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60th Congress \ cttmat^t? /Document 

2d Session 1 SENATE | ^^_ ^^^ 



MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
TRANSMITTING A REPORT BY THE ''COMMITTEE ON 
DEPARTMENT METHODS ON THE DOCUMENTARY 
HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED 
STATES GOVERNMENT, TOGETHER WITH 
A DRAFT OF A PROPOSED BILL PRO- 
VIDING FOR THE CREATION OF 
A PERMANENT COMMISSION 
ON NATIONAL HISTORICAL 
PUBLICATIONS 



^ 



February 11, 1909. — Read; ordered to lie on the table 
and be printed 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1909 



^^^'^ 

^^8- 



K 



y 



MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT 



lo the 8e7iate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Congress, a report 
by the Committee on Department Methods on the Documentary His- 
torical Publications of the United States Government, together with 
draft of a proposed bill providing for the creation of a permanent 
Commission on National Historical Publications. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 
The White House, February 11, 1909. 

3 



REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT 

BY THE 

COMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT METHODS. 



Documentary Historical Publications of the 
United States Government. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Washington, January 11, 1909. 
To the President: 

As directed by you, the Committee on Department Methods appointed 
the following gentlemen as an Assistant Committee on the Docu- 
mentary Historical Publications of the United States Government: 
Mr. Charles Francis Adams, president of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society; Prof. Charles M. Andrews, of the Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sit}^; Prof. William A. Dunning, of Columbia University; Mr. Worth- 
ington C. P^ord, Chief of the Division of Manuscripts in the Library 
of Congress; Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University; 
Mr. J. Franklin Jameson, director of the Department of Historical 
Research in the Carnegie Institution; Prof. Andrew C. McLaughlin, 
of the Universitj' of Chicago; Rear-Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, U. S. 
Navy, retired, and Prof. Frederick J. Turner, of the University of 
Wisconsin. Mr. Ford was, at your suggestion, designated as chairman. 

The Committee on Department Methods submits herewith a report 
by this Assistant Committee, and also a draft of a proposed bill which 
provides for the creation of a permanent Commission on National 
Historical Publications. 

We are in accord with the recommendations contained in the report. 
Yours, very respectfully, 

Lawrence O. Murray, • 

GiFFORD PiNCHOT, 

Coimnittee on Depa7'tment Methods. 



K" 



CONTENTS 



1. A review of the coin^e hitherto pursued by the Goverument in the matter 

of historical publications, indicating tl^ cost, criticising the want of 
method, and sliowing the present moment to be an ojjportune time for 
reform 10 

2. A general survey of the field of United States history, showing what has 

been done to cover it by Government documentary publications, and 
especially what gaps exist in the record, needing to be filled by Govern- 
ment action: 

a. Constitutional and political history 13 

b. Financial and commercial history 23 

c. Economic and social history 27 

d. Diplomatic historv 31 

e. ]Military history ." 33 

f. Naval history 35 

3. Recapitulation of the recommendations made in the course of this survey, 

most of them being smnmed u]> in the recouunendation of a series of 
National State Pai)ers, conceived as a continuation, modernized, of the 
old American State Papers 38 

4. General considerations as to tlie proper policy to be imrsued by the Gov- 

ernment in respect to historical publications 38 

5. A statement of the system pursued by other governments 40 

6. Suggestions for a permanent Commission on National Historical Publica- 

tions, and as to its mode of operation 43 

7. Dra/t of a bill to create a permanent Commission on National Historical 

Publications 45 

8 



DOCrMENTARY HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE 
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 



Washington, D. C, Novemher ^J^., 1908. 
GentleiMen: 

The undersio'iied committee was called into existence b}' the Com- 
mittee on Department Methods in consequence of an instruction from 
the President fiom which, in your letter requesting us to serve, you 
quote the following paragraph as indicating the objects of our 
appointment: 

With a view to the adoption of a more systematic and effective method of dealing 
with the problem of documentary historical publications of the United States Govern- 
ment, so as to secure a maximum of economy and efficiency, you are instructed to 
consider the desiral)ility of reviewing, with the aid of a subcommittee of experts, the 
whole field of documentary publications which consist wholly or mainly of material 
for the history of the United States, and framing a preliminary plan which will 
represent the delil)erate judgment of historical experts and serve to guide subsequent 
governmental work of this kind into the best channels. 

In accordance with this instruction and the terms used bj' you in 
aDDointing the t-ulx-onnnittee, we beg leave to submit the following 
report, dealing with {a) the course hitherto pursued ]>v the Government 
in the printing of volumes of documentary historical material; {h) the 
ground covered by such volumes already published and the extent to 
which they serve the interests of workers in our national history; (c) 
the gaps to be noted in our historical record which might be filled hy 
Government publications, and {d) the possibilitv- of putting into opera- 
tion a system whereby such issues might be steadilv kept to a high 
standard of quality and to a scientific plan, orderly and rational. 

We wish to make it plain at the outset that our object is not to pro- 
pose vast and disproportionate expenditures for a subject which deeply 
interests us, but rather to make suggestions which are in the interest 
of genuine economy. We assume that the ])ublication of documentary 
historical materials is a regidar function of all civilized governments, 
and that the Government and people of the United States are willing 
to spend reasonable sums of money in such publication; but we be- 
lieve that the way to better results lies through more carefulness in 
planning and executing rather than through more lavish expenditure. 
Our report ranges over many fields and discusses manj" desirable un- 
dertakings; but nothing could be further from our thoughts than to 
propose vast schemes for instant execution. Instant execution would 
be bad execution. We have endeavored to look forward into the fu- 
ture and to frame large plans, which can be executed in parts and de- 
veloped by time and experience, after the analogy of a grou]) of far- 
seeing architects who shoidd frame large plans for the improvement 
and future development of a great modern city, but without expecting 
that all things shoidd be done or even resolved upon at once. 



10 HISTOklCAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

THE COURSE HITHERTO PURSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT. 

Like all other enlightened oovernmonts, that of the Tnited States 
has felt the oblitration to y^ublish historical materials, as among the 
surest means of maintaining an intelligent national i^atriotism. As 
early as 1790 provision was made for the reprinting of the Journals 
of the Continental Congress. The ten years ))eginning with ISIT saw 
the pul)lication of the Journal of the Fed(M-al Convention of 1787. of 
the collection of State Papers known as Wait's, of the Secret flournals 
of the Continental Congress, and of reprints of its ordinar}' journal 
and of the Journals of the Senate and House of Kepresentatives. 

In proportion to the. resources of the Government and the country, 
the period from 1S21» to l.S(il may fairly he declared to have been the 
most active in historical publication. Beside spending $130,000 in the 
purchase of the manuscripts of the earlier statesmen. Congress pro- 
vided in greater or less measure, directly or indirectly, for the issue 
of Sparks's Diplomatic Correspondence of the Amei'ican Revolution, 
the I)i{)Iomatic C'oiTespondence of lf88-17si». Force's American Ar- 
chives, the ]Madison Papers, the Works of Jetferson and Hamilton, the 
Letters and Other Writings of Madison, and, greatest undertaking of 
all, the ;>S folio volumes of the American State Papers, the last a series 
of which any nation may be proud, presenting in methodical arrange- 
ment all the chief administrative papers of our Hrst fort}' years under 
the Constitution. 

All this constituted a creditable achievement for a young nation not 
yet rich. But it is distinctly miscellaneous. It gives no evidence, 
except in the case of the great series of the American State Pai)ers. of 
a general plan de\ ised l^eforehand and based on careful thought as to 
what was most needed toward the developnuMit of Amei'ican histoi'y. 
And in the second place the relations of the (lovernnient to these 
publications, both in respect to supervision and in respect to tinance. 
were most various, evincing no settled theory as to how government 
historical publication should be conducted. 

For the period since the civil war we can set over against the various 
prodiu'ts of tlu^ antebellum pm-iod the most extensive and costly his- 
torical enterprise ever carried through by any government, the Ofticial 
Records of the War of the Rebellion, published in l^S vohunes at a 
cost computed at §2, 858.000. It is a monument of which the nation 
may l)e proud, though doubtless it is needlessly voluminous in certain 
parts. But as to consistency and continuity of |)lan, we have oidy to 
remark that during the preparation of the work eight changes of sys- 
tem were, by Congressional or departmental authority, etfect(>d in the 
procedure of editing. We may also mention as illustrating the evils 
attendant ui)on a lack of preliminary scientilic planning, that lieside 
the well-known I2S volumes a sei'ies of not fewer than 70 volumes, 
composed on an earlier and faulty j^lan, was put into type and piinted 
to the <'xtent of 30 copies. These \ olunuvs ha\e ne\er had any use, 
except to serve as printer's copy for the moi"e satisfactory compilation. 
Moreover, the proc(»ssof putting them into tyi)e and printing 30 cojiies 
of each was continued for eight years after the pu])lication of the tirst 
volume of the series which superseded them. A stronger illustration 
of the !ieed of Ix^tter suj^ervision over the (lovernment's histoi*ical 
publications, in the interest of (iiiality aufl economy, could hardly be 
ima«rined. 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 11 

Including" this gioantic series, and the Naval Records of the War 
which accompanies it, the Government has since 1890 expended nearly 
three million dollars (12,875,183) in printing documentar}' texts, cal- 
endars of manuscripts, and other historical volumes, an average of 
$159,737 per annum. In some cases full value has been received, but 
in others the historical worth of the result was unimportant and 
the volumes brought credit neither to the Government nor to the 
compilers. 

The truth of these criticisms of the present S3^stem, or want of 
sj'^stem, may be seen by a glance at the following table. It exhibits 
the titles and, so far as it can readil}' be traced, the cost of practi- 
cally all the Government's historical pul)lications since 1890." 



Official Records of the War of the Rebellion b .|1 , 881 , 821 

Official Records of the War, Naval 205, 314 

Messages and Papers of the Presidents ( 10 volumes ) 257, 899 

Records of the Virginia ('ompany 6, 942 

Journals of the Continental Congress (12 volumes) 24, 000 

Revolutionarj' Diplomatic Correspondence (6 volumes) 56, 431 

Documentary History of the Constitution (3 volumes) 24, 591 

State Pafiers on the Purchase of Louisiana 2, 282 

Jefferson's "Morals of Jesus" 21, 258 

Journals of the Confederate Congress ( 7 volumes) 22, 549 

Treaties and Conventions 11,452 

Treaties Now in Force 2, 964 

Digest of International Law (Wharton) (3 volnraes) 18, 623 

Digest of International Law (Moore) (8 volumes) 56, 181 

CALENDAKS. 

Calendars of the Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Franklin, 
Jones, and Vernon- Wager papers 22, 501 

COMPILATIONS. 

Annual Reports of the American Historical Association, 1894 to date (21 

volumes) 80, 354 

International Arbitrations (Moore) (6 volumes) 53, 368 

Celebration of Flstablishment of Government 12, 273 

Historical Register, United Stall's Army 11, 993 

Legislative Historv of General Staff 5, 303 

Alphabetical List of Battles 1 , 624 

Daughters of the American Revolution 1 , 445 

History of the Capitol 24, 338 

H istory of the Currency 2, 720 

History of Education, Contributions to 57, 016 

History of the Library of Congress 6, 457 

History of Public Bui Idings 3, 484 

Total 2, 875, 183 

The amount of historical material thus presented is ample, and the 
expenditure has been more than liberal. Rut the list as a whole shows 
plainl}' the absence of a general plan. It is not only miscellaneous, but 
in some respects casual. It needs no demonstration that, with the same 
amount of expenditure, or less if need be, our Government could, by 
having a methodical plan representing expert opinion, make its efforts 

" Most of the data are derived from the report of the Printing Investigation Com- 
mittee of 1906. 

i> Publication of the series began in 1881. 



12 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

and expenditiire.s more effective, avoid wiiste and duplication, iind bring- 
out a product more useful and satisfactor}- to historians and the read 
\n^ public. 

The time is ripe for pursuing- such a course. All the series men- 
tioned at)ove have now been brought to a conclusion except the Naval 
Records, the fJournalsof the Continental Congress, and, of course, the 
reports of the American Historical Association, which are annual.'^ 
The printing of the Naval Records and the Journals of the Continental 
Congress is costing at)Out $1<),0U0 per annum. These two excellent 
series should of course be continued. I5ut this is all that the (iovern- 
ment is doing at i)resent. Its historical publication is at a tit point for 
making a fresh start. The ground is not encumbered, as at times it 
has been, b}' existing enterprises hard to reconcile or combine into any 
consistent sciieme. The (Tovernment has j)ractically a free hand, and 
should use this opportune moment to think out a rational plan for the 
future. 

This plan our committee has been invited to supply. As an indis- 
pensable first step, it has uiade a careful review of the whole tield of 
documentary publications for the history of the Tniti'd States. First, 
it di\'ided our whole national history into conAcnient sections, embrac- 
ing all y^eriods and all the chief aspc^cts of the record — constitutional, 
political, linancial, economic, social, diplomatic, military, and naval 
history. These were assigned respectively to the members most expert 
in their consideration. Each then prepared a careful survey of the 
special tield assigned to him, reporting- upon (rf) the materials for that 
period or aspect of American history- already in print, whether issued 
by the Federal Government or otherwise; (/>) the volumes or series of 
documentary material which might best be undertaken by Federal 
authority with a view to lilling gaps and making nioi-e complete the 
body of available material; {<;) t:he proi)able magnitude of each such 
undertaking; {//) the I'elative importance^ of the ent«>r|)rises thus desig- 
nated as desirable, or the ordei- in which they might best be taken up. 

The preliminary reports thus prepared by the individual members 
of the committee were sent out in copies to all the other meml>ers for 
consideration and comment. A second general meeting was then held 
for their discussion. The results, so far as they lelate to the existing 
sbitus of documentation in the various fields of AnuM-ican history and 
the possibilities of its improvement, are stated in the next section. 

The sul)se(iuent sections pi-esent (t/) a sunnnary of the chief recom- 
mendations made in the course of the survey; (A) certain general con- 
sidei-ations which seem to the conunittee worthy of remark ; (c) a 
description of the organization and method of procedure observed by 
the governments of other countries in dealing with their historical 
works; and {(/) suggestions, followed l)y a draft of a bill, for a perma- 
nent Conunission on National Historical Publications. 

a And one volume of the History of the Library of Congrt«s. 



HISTORICAL, PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 13 

SURVEY OF THE FIELD— GAPS IN THE HISTORICAL RECORD. 
A. CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY. 

I. COLONIAL PERIOD. 

Of most portion!-; of our colonial histoiy it may be said with truth 
that it i.s the business of state governments and historical societies to 
siippl}' the documents bv means of which the history of individual 
colonies, and local history in general, may be written. The United 
States Government has, therefore, usually left to such agencies the 
printing- of material relating to colonial history before ITT-i. But 
there are two phases of colonial history that transcend the fields of 
purely local activity and come within the purview of the National 
Government. These phases are, first, the relation of the colonies as a 
whole to the British Government, and, second, the movement toward 
union among the colonies themselves. 

During the colonial period the only central authority to which all 
the colonies were subject was the British Government. As the highest 
governmental power it corresponded in a sense to the Federal Govern- 
ment of to-day, and anticipated some of its forms, so that the history 
of its colonial organization and action is in many particulars the early 
history of our federal organization and action. Whatever material, 
therefore, serves to elucidate the relations between the colonies as a 
whole, and the Britisli Government, or between that Government and 
its ofhcial agents in America, is legitiniately a matter of concern to 
the United States Government, and the publication of such material, 
which lies beyond the scope of state, historical society, or private 
individual, should be made a national undertaking. 

Formal and continuous records of the colonial activity of the British 
Government, comparable to the journals of Congress, exist in the 
shape of two great bodies of unprinted material — the Register of the 
Privy Council, 1G13-1T83, and the Jouinal of the Board of Trade and 
Foreign Plantations, 1660-1603, 1675-1782. But the British Govern- 
ment itself, aided by that of Canada and Iw the American Historical 
Association, has already begun the printing, in a series of 5 volumes 
entitled "Acts of the Privy Council (Colonial)," of those portions of 
the former record relating to America; while of the latter, the Journal 
of the Board of Trade, a complete transcript has been obtained b}^ the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, to which its issue in print ma}'" 
therefore appropriateh^ be left. 

For similar reasons, the National Government may leave at one 
side three other series which have a continental scope and significance 
and are important to the proper development of our colonial history, 
but are in a fair way to be executed by other means. A prominent 
scholar is understood to be preparing as a private enterprise a collec- 
tion of all the British statutes relating to America; the American 
Antiquarian Society is dealing similarly with the series of royal proc- 
lamations, and the Carnegie Institution with the American proceedings 
and debates in Parliament. 

Coimnissions and instructions to governors. — But the operation of 
the Imperial Government may be traced with almost an equal degree 
of continuity in another series of documents, only less important than 
the two records named first above, and this is the commissions, instruc- 
tions, "additional instructions," warrants, and inferior commissions 



14 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

issued by royal authority to royal <>()vernor.s of colonies. Although 
these doc'ument.s relate respectively to individual colonies, yet since 
they were issued, one after another, by the same power, and drawn up 
successively by the Board of Trade or other official autht)rity for the 
guidance and use of the royal governors in the colonies, they have a 
high iuii)ortance for the general constitutional history of the colonies, 
enabling us to trace the developiuent of go\ernuiental policy and pi'ac- 
tice on American soil. In a few instances the conunissions have been 
obtained and pl-intt'd by the States and 1)V private societies and indi- 
viduals, but the undertaking as a whole is too large for private enter- 
prise and should be promoted by the National Government. Scarcely 
any of the instructions, etc., have been printed, though it is probable 
that a complete set of all these documents could be obtained. The 
work should be very carefully edited, not only that every possible 
document should be obtained, but that repetitions should be avoided. 
Many of the documents are but coi)ies of similar docuiuents previously 
issued, containing only a few variations. Such variations, however, 
require to be carefully noted, since in these changes lies the progres- 
sive development of the policy of the home (iovernment. 

CliartevH and constltntlonK. — The constitutional history of some col- 
onies rests upon charters or letters patent from the Crown, or upon 
similar fundamental documents. A complete collection of these is a 
desideratum. If we do not place it in the same rank as the pi'eceding 
item (conunissions, etc.), it is for two reasons. The first is that the 
conunissions and instructions, l)eing more frequent and less formal 
and rigid, cast a more abundant light on Mie proces-;es of constitution! 
development, and that, though from popular reasonings one might 
infer the contrary, British" colonial govermnent was chieiij' and 
typically government under under royal commissions and instructions 
and not government under colonial charters. 

In the second place, we have to take account of an existing, though 
confessedly very imperfect, collection, Poore's Charters and Constitu- 
tions, and of the fact that a new edition has already been prepared and 
is all in type at the (Jovernment Printing Office. The qualities of this 
new edition are a matter of warm dispute. It is ]iossil)le that, owing 
to disagrc'cments respecting paA'uient for the work of editing (disagree- 
ments referred last winter to a committee of the House of Representa- 
tives and not yet reported upon), it may never ))e published. Without 
expj"essing any opiinon (»n its merits (though we may point to the dis- 
pute itself as an evidence of the need of an expert conunitteeof advico 
on historical pul)lications undertaken by Congress), we may say that 
no pait of the original Poore was so defective as this colonial portion; 
that the completest scholarship would ix^ requisite in order to deter- 
mine, on legal and historical grounds, all the documents which belonged 
in such a series; and that certainly, in order to tell the story of devel- 
opment which it is designed to tell, it ought to include the whole 
series of letters patent for continental American and West Indian 
colonies and not simply those hitherto end)raced in such collections. 

If the edition of Poore, now under discussion, is not pui)lished, the 
committee would not reconnnend that th(» Govermnent again unite in 
oiu» collection the charters of the colonial [)eriod and the state consti- 
tutions of later times. The two tasks rc^iuire ditierent (|ualifications 
in the editor, and their association t(Muls to produce an exaggerated im- 
pression of the extent to which the constitutions were derived from 
the charters. 



HISTOEICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVEKNMENT. 15 

Correspondence of the British Secretaries of State. — We have in the 
English archives, in letter books and letters received, on the one hand 
the correspondence of the Secretary of State witii colonial oovernors 
and other civil officials in America, and on the other hand his corre- 
spondence and that of the Admiralty and the Secretary at AVar with 
commanders in chief of the army in America, and with admiials of 
the tieets in American waters. Both series are very extensive, espe- 
ciall}' after 1705. Probably not a tenth part of either has been printed. 
Both are continental or national in their bearings, not local or confined 
to one colony or State, Carefully composed selections from them 
would be invaluable for colonial history and for that of the War of 
Independence, through which they should of course be continued with- 
out break. 

Plans <f union. — The second aspect of colonial history with which 
the United States Government might legitimately concern itself is the 
develoj^ment of the idea and practice of union and the hii^tory of 
colonial congresses to 1774, A series of documents relating to this 
subject, prepared by the late Mr. F, D. Stone, was printed in Carson's 
Constitution of the ll^nited States, but it was manifestly incomplete 
and is not readibly accessible. A new edition of all these documents, 
particularly of the proceedings of th.e Albany Congress of 1754: and 
the Stamj) Act Congress of 1765, with such supplemental material as 
will elucidate the texts, is greatly needed. 

2. KEVOLUTIOXARV AND KORMATIVE PERIOD, 1774-1789. 

In one material particular the entire period since 1774 differs from 
the preceding, namely, that the Federal Government itself possesses 
most of the original niaterials necessary for elucidating its own histor3\ 
It will have been perceived that we are l)v no means disposed to recom- 
mend that it confine its historical publications to materials which are 
in its own possession. That would be an unscientific course, substi- 
tuting, for such standards as make for rational completeness, criteria 
dependent on the accidents of deposit or ownership. But in those 
fields in which we must expect the main work of the Government to 
consist in printing what it has, our task of surve3'and recommendation 
has been greatly aided by the existence of a systematic inventory in 
the new edition of Van Tyne and Leland's Guide to the Archives of 
the Government of the Cnited States in Washington, of which we 
have mad(> large use. 

In projjortion to the amount of extant material, the constitutional 
and political history of the whole period 1774-1829 has been more 
completely covered by documentar}' publication than any other. Many 
portions of the field have been so amply supplied that new govern- 
mental enterprises could not be reconunended. 

Particularly is this true of the first of the chronological divisions 
into which the period naturally falls, embracing the years 1774-1789. 
The new edition of the Journals of the Continental Congress, now 
being published by the Library of Congress, and the proposed volumes 
of letters from its members describing its doings, to be published by 
the Carnegie Institution of Washington, leave only one important 
desideratum with respect to the constitutional and political action of 
the Federal Government in 1774-1787, namely, that the flournals 
should be accompanied by a body of selections from the papers of the 
Continental Congress. These papers, petitions, letters, etc., have been 



16 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

printed to bat a minor extent. They are of j^reat importance as exhib- 
iting more fully than the Journals can do the grounds of the actions 
of C'ongross and for the light which they cast on all phases of the 
struggle for independence and new national organization. 

Professor Farrand's monumental Records of the Federal Convention 
of 1787 should certainly be printed by the Government if not soon 
published otherwise. If that most useful work were once issued, w^e 
should think that, since we already have Klliot's Debates and the writ- 
ings of the chief statesmen concerned in the Convention, it would be 
superriuous for the Federal Oovernment to project any further docu- 
mentary publications vin illustration of the formation and adoption of 
the Constitution. 

The constitutional and political history of the States during these 
years is, with the exception noted in the next paragraph, best left to 
them for documentation. New Hampshire, Khode Island, Pennsyl- 
vania, I)elaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and (leorgia have alread}^ 
provided for this nearly or (juite as well as the mattu'ials in their pos- 
session ptn-mit. 

State const/tiitlons. — There exists a very active demand for a new 
edition of that portion of Poore's Charters and Constitutions w hich 
includes the State constitutions and the fundamental documents for 
provisional government immediately preceding them, from 1774 on. 
Everj'onc would be disposed to name this as one of the foremost desid- 
erata. In a preceding paragraph allusion has been made to the exist- 
ing attempt to meet this want, and the recommendation has been made 
that, in case the edition mentioned should not he accepted and {U-inted 
by Congress, the charters of the colonial era and the State constitutions 
of the later period should be treated as separate collections. Since 
1S7(), the point at which Poore brought his work to a t-onclusion, at 
least twenty-three new constitutions have gone into etiect, many con- 
stitutional amendments have been adopted, and acts of Congress organ- 
izing or fundamentally affecting civil government in several Territories 
have been passed. Moreover, Poore's publication was marked by mate- 
rial omissions, such as that of the Iowa cotistitution of 1857. A new 
edition is imperatively recpiired; the lapse of thirty years and the 
improvement in standards of editing have made tlic oi-iginal comyjila- 
tion quite out of date. 

3. PEKU)I) KIU)M 1781t TO 1829. 

For the period beginning in 1785) more remains to be done, though 
here also materials have been published with nuich amplitude. For 
the doings of the executive and legislative departments of the Govern- 
ment, we have the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, in maiiy 
ways unsatisfactory, t)ut not likely soon tO'be repiinted. the ,Journals 
of the Senate and House of Hc^presentatives, the Kxecutive .Journals 
of the Senate, the Annals of Congress and its contiiuiation the Register 
of Debates, and the mass of papers, partly of legislative and partly of 
executive origin, embraced in the great folio series of the American 
State Papers. We also havi' editions of the VV^ritings of Washington, 
.John Adams, .I-etferson, Madison, Monroe, Franklin, Hamilton. Jay, 
Gallatin, King, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, and are promised those 
of R. H. Lee and the correspondence of Marshall. Among writings 
of statesmen, the great desiileratum is an edition of the correspondence 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 17 

of John Adams (little was printed in his Works) and of John Quincy 
Adams. Great abundance has l)een preserved by the family in both 
cases; it is earnestly to be hoped that we may some time have ample 
publication. The correspondence of John Adams, Marshall, James A. 
Bayard, and the Federal Pinckneys would be of oroat value in enabling- 
us to understand the major portion of the Federalist party, as distin- 
guished from the Hamiltonian wing, now so much better known. 

The first three volumes of the Executive Journals of the Senate, 
covering the period 17Sl)-18i^9. were published many years ago (1829) 
in a comparatively small edition, and are not easy to procure. The 
historical importance of these journals, exhibiting the action of the 
Senate on all appointments and on all treaties, is very great. In view 
of this and of the larj^e editions of public documents coiumonly issued, 
it is very unfortunate that the next 13 volumes, extending to 18H9 and 
publisiied in IS8T, w^ere printed in only 100 copies, and that volumes 
17 to 29, covering the years 1869-1891 and published in 1901, were 
pi-inted in an edition of only 250. The result is that full sets of the 
Executive Joinnals of the Senate can not now be completed for less 
than ^2oO. But it is probably too soon to suggest an immediate reis- 
sue, unless the electrotype plates from Volume IV on are still in 
existence. 

I)J>nt"x. — The records of the debates in the earlier Congresses, as 
comi)rised in the Annals of Congress, leave nmch to he desired. It is 
not probable that we could nmch improve on the Register of Debates 
for the ensuing period, 1825-1837. Gales & Seaton, the publishers of 
the Register, finding that venture successful, proceeded in 183-1 to 
begin the tilling of the gap from 1789 by the preparation and issue of 
the Annals of Congress, which was completed to 182-1: in 42 volumes. 
From October, 1800, when their newspaper, the National Intelligencer, 
Avas founded, the}' seem to have reliecl entirely on the excellent reports 
which had appeared in its columns. During those 3^ears that news- 
paper had acquired such a reputation as a standard reporter of Con- 
gressional proceedings that, until the contrary is shown, we ma}'^ 
assume that nothing better can be done than to leave the Annals in its 
])resent position of accepted authority for the debates of 1800-1824. 
For the debates of the House from its beginning in 1789 to March 8, 
1790, the Annals merely copies Thomas Lloyd's Congressional Register 
(New York. 1789-1790,4 volumes), whose shorthand reports are ample 
and can not Ix? ])ettered. The same is true for the House debate on 
Jay's treaty in March and A])ril, 1796, when the compilers could copv 
from the tu'o volumes (Philadelphia, 1796) in which that debate was 
fully reported. But for othei' parts of the period from March, 1790, 
to May, 1800, it is nmch less true. For those years, with the excep- 
tion named, Joseph (lales compiled his record from the liles of New 
York and Philadelphia newspapei's. Whether further use of news- 
papers of the time would add much is not yet known. Meanwhile it 
is impossible to recommend anything else, so far as House debates 
are concei'iied. than that we should rest content with what is given 
us in the Annals. 

It is impossible to accept with equal contiMitment our situation with 

respect to the earlier years' discussions in the Senate. From April, 

1789, to February 20, 1794, and, indeed, with a single Ijiief exception, 

till December ^M, 1795, the Senate sat with closed doors. The news- 

8. Doc. 714, 60-2 2 



18 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

puper.s contiiitHMl no roport of its debates. The Aiiiuil.s have onl3' 
matter derived from the flournals. With verv slight exceptions, our 
oiih' kr.owlodjre of del)ates in the Setiate durino- these years is derived 
from the record of them kept durin"' two sessions (April 2-i, 1789', to 
March ;>, 1791) bv Senator William Machw, of Pennsylvania, whose 
Sketches of Del)ate (Harrisbiirg, 188i>; New York,ls9(i) oiveusonly a 
partial and partisan view. It is unfortunate that we have nothi?ig 
better, and for the next few years nothino- at all. Attempts should 
be made to glean and publish all other existing' diaries or records. 

IStafi' Irla/x. —But in the field of the judiciary it is j)ossibIe to sug- 
gest a pul)lication (not contin(>d, it is true, to the yeai's 1783-1829) 
which would be of great use not only to historical scholars but to law- 
yers and pul)lic men — a collection of the State Trials analogous to the 
English series known by that name. All who have used the latter 
know how unportant and interesting it is to Kltiglish constitutional and 
'"political history. The term ''state trials'' not having an exact legal 
signiiicance, a series so entitled might be given various extents. But 
it shoidd certainly include (1) all trials of impeachments (seven in 
mimber) before the United States Senate. ('J) all im})ortant cases in the 
United States courts in which men were tried for otlenses against the 
Governmentor against publicpeaceand order (e. g\, the sedition trials, 
Burr, Vallandigham, Surratt), and (3) all treason trials in the courts 
of the States. 

Of the trials included in these three classes very few are in the most 
generally accessible body of judicial reports, those of the Supreme 
Court of the L'liited States; and indeed it is usually the rei)ortsof the 
trials in the courts of first instance that arc most interesting to the 
student of history. Most of the state trials exist only in si'parate 
books or pamphlets so hard to procure that very few historical scholais 
can hope to possess, or even to have near them, so complete a collec- 
tion as is above suggested. 

Probably, however, we ought to adopt a broader construction of the 
phrase "state trials," and to include ihe most iui])ortant inipi-acinnent 
trials in the States; prosecutions related to international politics, like 
those of Smith and Ogdeii in the Miranda ati'air. or McLeod in that of 
the C'lroliin'; cases involving tln^ fundamental relations of state and 
nation, like that of Gen. ]\lichael Bright in isoi) or (iarlaiurs case in 
18(i7; cases of civilians tried by military tribunals, like Milligan's case; 
and the various fugitive-slave cases — Ainiaiad^ Prigg, Sims, Burns, 
etc. After including all that is important of ,sucii material the bulk of 
the proposed collection would probably not be greater than 2.") octavo 
volum(>s. The advice of representatives of the Federal judiciary and 
of the bar should be iinoked in sh:ii)ing and executing such a series. 

4. I'Kiiioi) ruo.M 1S2!) TO 1861. 

Printed rnaft'rin1s.~^\:\\^ material now availal)le in jirint for this por- 
tion of our constitutional and political history is extensive and various. 
First in importance among printed sources are the I'eports of debates 
f\\\ Congress, which from 18:i."» to 1837 are to be found in (iales tSc 
Seaton's Kegister of Debates, and from 1833 to 1873 in the 108 volumes 
of the Congressional Glol)e. These two series, though r.ot very con- 
venieiitl}' arranged, are widely distributed in tolerably complete sets, 
and there is no piesent need <»f reprints. 



HISTOEICAL, PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 19 

The same thing may ])e said of the in]i)ortaiit judicial records; the 
decisions of the 8u[)reme Court are availalde in the original reports, 
in two private reprints, and many of them in the condensed series of 
Curtis and Miller. The othcial (Opinions of the Attorneys-General of 
the L'uited States are likewise sutKciently available. The reports 
of the circuit and district courts during this period are also ,to be 
found in the private publication known as Federal Cases, which is still 
in print. 

The executive records of the period are on a difi'crent footing. 
Richardson's Messages and Papers of the Presidents, indeed, though 
not satisfactory-, will answer for a time. But the connnunications of 
the heads of departments and their suliordinates (and likewise the 
reports of the committees of the two Houses) ;ire to be found oidy in 
that reservoir of unorganized matter, the Congressional documents, 
which make up some thousands of volumes, crudeh' arranged, and with 
some duplications and no annual indexes. This series is arranged in 
eight subdivisions for each session of Congress, nameh": Senate Jour-' 
nals; Senate (Committee) ilei)orts; Senate Documents (or Senate Ex- 
ecutive Documents); Senate Miscellaneous; House Journals; House 
Reports: House Documents; House Miscellaneous. B, P. Poore"s De- 
scriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United 
States is a crude index to this whole series down to 1881, and the 
(iovernuKMit has also })rinted a list of these publications, from the 
Fifteenth to the Fifty-second Congress, inclusive, under the title 
*•' Tables of and Annotated Index to the Congressional Series of 
United States Public Documents'' (Washington, 11)02). 

In these documents of Congress is buried an immense mass of im- 
portant material on all fields of American history, such as committee 
reports on all the great questions that have attracted the attention of 
^^^ongress; memorials and proceedings of commissions on stat(> ))ound- 
aries; petitions; reports on public works; economic material, such as 
the reports on commerceand navigation, beginning in 1821; on commer- 
cial relations, beginning in 1855; the census publications of 18^0 to 
ls()0; reports on agriculture, beginning in 1841; reports of the Com- 
missioner of Pensions; of the Patent Othce, beginning in ISoT; of the 
Commissioner of Indian AHairs, lieginning in 1825; and, of course, 
the reports of the heads of the great executive departments. No 
material casts more light on the actual workings of the Federal Gov- 
ernment and the growth of an administrative system; but few libraries 
have unbroken sets covering the whole period from 1829 to 1801, and 
it is now very difficult to make up anytliing like a coniplete series. 

i\fani(scrl/>t natterldh. — Some mateiMais of the same nature as those 
printed in the Congressional documents, particularly rejiorts of com- 
mittees, still remain in manuscript. Among such materials listed in 
the Van Tyne and Leland Guide to the Archives, the more important 
are correspondence and rulings on public lands and land grants; mili- 
tary and naval reports and correspondence; controversies with the 
States and correspondence thereon. But the niost important docu- 
ments still remaining unprinted are of two classes— the pa|)t-rs of 
Presidents and other public men, especially those now in the Library 
of C'ongress, and diplomatic corresj)ondence and records. The latter 
are dealt with in a sul)se((uent section of this report. 

The Government possesses papers of AndreAV Jackson, Martin Van 
Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, Jeli'erson Davis, Daniel Web- 



20 HISTORICAL. PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

ster, Thomiis Corwin, and Salmon P. Cliase. In general those collec- 
tions have no such fullness and im])ortance as those of the older gen- 
eration of American statesmen: and the most important dociunent of 
all, the Polk l>iar3', is not in the possession of the Government. 

From the last edition of the Van T\me and Leland Guide to the 
Archives it appears that there are enormous tiles of correspondence 
and orders in the Navy and War Departments, some of which must 
certainlv have historical signiticance. and very little of which has ever 
])een ])rinted. Similar series of letters can be found in the Treasury 
/Department (especially a tile of letters from the Secretary to the Presi- 

^ dent).(^n the Indian Office, and in the Land Office. The documents 
relating to the intercourse between the Federal Government and the 
territorial officials have been veiy little used as yet by historians. In 
many Holds it is evident that the archives of the Government abound 
in unprinted material, examination of which will be necessary for the 
future historian. 

Wr!t!n(/s of statesmen. — One of the most obvious undertakings for 
this po'iod is to make public, as has l)een done so largely for the pre- 
ceding period, the letters and otiier writings of the group of statesmen 
whose activity falls chioHy between 1821> and l:s()l. The need of 
doing this in the case of John Quincy Adams has already been men- 
tioned. The Library of Congress possesses ample materials for doing- 
it in the case of Jackson. A collection of his correspondence would 
be of the highest importance and interest and is strongly to be recom- 
mended for early publication. Van Buren could next be und(>rtaken. 
though with moans loss complete. The Webster, Corwin. Polk. Pierce. 
Davis, and Chase pa])ers, now in the Library of Congress, are not so 
strong in letters of the men themselves as in letters to them. But 
many more of the former could usually be obtained from other sources 
for such publications. Furthermore, many of these collections are 
rich in letters to statesmen of a kind which constitutes one of the most 
important types of historical sources, namely, the contidcntial and 
personal statements of men on the inside of ])uf)lio life; and selections 
of the letters written to the statesman in (|uestion should always be 
included in any publication of his correspondence. As to extent, f I'om 
two to tive octavo volumes would appai'ontly be necessary for the 
writings and correspondence of each of the statesmen above named- 
a somewhat greater number in the cases of Jackson and Van Buien. 

Reprints from the Co)u/ressf'ofia/ (locnnunts. — Of material already 
printed which ought to appear in more accessible form, the Congres- 
sional documents furnish a g eat reservoir. Leaving out of account 
as already available the Messages and Papers of the Presidents and 
the annual reports of the heads of the offices as too bulky for reprint, 
in view of the fact that a good many coi)ics of them are disseminated 

/^ii-ou'_:h the country, what is most needed is a reprint of the most 
valuable of the occasional ])ul)lications. Of such documents many are 
of great signiticance, such as geneial rej)orts and coi'respondonce on 
intjornai improvements (leaving out of consideration the numerous 
bulky reports on particular ])ul)lic works), on the various phases of 
Indian affairs, on contested state boundaries, and on the administration 
of the i)ul>lic lands. In any such work search should also be made 
among the reports and correspondence which remain in manusciint. 
but which may now be of im|)ortanco. 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U, S. GOVERNMENT. 21 

But such a series can not be satisfactorih'' considered in the field of 
constitutional and political histor}' alone. Materials on the other 
phases of American history embraced in this report lie in similar 
abundance in these Congressional documents, and call for similar 
treatment. The most convenient method would be to make up a great 
series on the general plan of the American State Papers. That notable 
colle(;tion, which did so much credit to its makers and has been so 
immensely useful to historical writers, covers the period from 1TJS9 to 
1829 in 38 folio volumes, arranged in series, as follows: Foreign Rela- 
tions, 1789-1828 (6 volumes); Indian Atfairs, 1789-1827 (2 volumes); 
Finance, 1789-1828 (5 volumes); Commerce and Navigation, 1789-1823 
(2 volumes); Militarv Ati'airs, 1789-1838 (7 volumes); Naval Affairs, 
1794-1886 (4 volumes); Post-Office Department, 1790-1833 (1 volume); 
Public Lands, 1789-1837 (8 volumes); Claims, 1790-1823 (2 volumes); 
Miscellaneous, 1789-1823 (2 volumes). 

In recommending strongly the inception of a great series of National 
State Papers which should continue to 1861 and eventually to later dates 
the good work done for the eai-lier period by the American State Papers, 
we should expect that nearly all the categories of the earlier series 
should be retained, and that the most important of the Congressional 
and Executive documents of the years 1829 to 1861 relating to Foreign 
Kelations, Military Atfairs, Naval Affaii's, Indians, Finance, Commerce 
and Navigation, and Public Lands should be collected into series bear- 
ing those designations. Several of these subdivisions can be appro- 
priately considered at greater length in later sections of this report. 
(TTiit while describing at this point in its entire scope the project which 
we recommend, a project much exceeding the bounds of a mere!}' con- 
stitutional and political histor3\ we wish further to emphasize the fact 
that it ought also to be so shaped as greatly to exceed the categories 
deemed appropriate eighty years ago. Time has enlai-ged the scope 
of the Federal Govermnent and its interests, and the scheme of series 
should be widened to correspond. The growth of our industrial organi- 
zation and of our system of transportation, and the creation of the 
Department of Conniierco and Labor and that of Agriculture, are 
illustrations of what is meant. The great series reconunended should 
have, in order to meet the historical needs of the present tinie, besides 
the older categories, its septi(ms devoted to Geographical Papers, to 
Agriculture and other extractive industries, to Manufactures, to Labor 
and Industrial Organization, to Population and Social Organization, 
and, to return to constitutional history, a series embracing the govern- 
mental papers on State Boundaries and Federal Relations with the 
States and Territories. 

Jn such series should be embraced not alone the Congressional docu- 
ments but a comprehensive body of selections from the departmental 
correspondence at Vv'ashington, with special reference to the letters 
exchanged with the President, the heads of other departments, and the 
chairmen of the chief committees of Congress. The inmiense value of 
such material is n])parent to any intelligent reader of Van Tyne and 
Leland's account of the Treasury Department (pp. 59 et seq.), the 
Interior Department (pp. 201 et seq.), and the Department of Justice 
(pp. 138 et seq.). It is indispensable to a clear understanding of the 
actual working of our Government. It would on the one hand 
throw light on the obscure jdaces in the origin of many policies and 
manv laws, and it would on the other hand make accessible the means 



22 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

of undcrstuiuling the real relations of executive and legi.>5lature in our 
s^-stcni. 

To this comprehensive project of National State Papers we recur in 
later sections, the diplomatic series beiny one especially worthy of 
early attention and capable of being so worked out as to sei-ye as a model 
for the others. We feel sure that a reasonal)iy unifoi'ui plan would 
be of advantage to all the series, and therefore have sugg'e.sted a general 
title and organization. Its magnitude can not be estimated without 
further and detailed research. Perhaps indited the most convenient 
method would be to lix upon a certain number of volumes and then 
select material to till them. The American State Papers, coverin-.r 
about forty 3'ears. from ITS'J to \S'2S, is in 88 volumes. A similar 
compilation for the next thirty-two years, with regard to the lirge 
stores of manuscript material, would be cramped in tSO volumes of 
the same size as its predecessor, or a hundred volumes of moie easily 
manageable dimensions. 

But the execution of this project would extend over many years: 
the present concern is to plan deliberatel}' and with a sufficiently wide 
outlook. 

5. PERIOD FKOM 1S61 TO 190S. 

Under this heading we consider the political and constitutional 
material relating particularlv to the ci\ il war and rcN'OMstruetion. 
practically not going beyond i.SS5. 

As compared with the exti"aordinary coni})leten.ess with which the 
military records of the war have been gathered into serviceable forms, 
the neglect of the political and constitutional records is astoni-hing. 
McPherson's unofficial compilation. History of the Uel).'lli(>n. now 
antiijuated and out of print, is practically the only collection th;it can 
be dep;Mided upon for the dociunentary history of so importtmt a 
poli(y, for example, as that of enrancijjation and abolition, (ireat 
quantities of additional matter are scattered through the document- 
printed by Congress, and a certain amount conx's incidentally within 
the scope of the Official Records of the \Var. The works of Lini oln. 
Chase, Seward, Sumner, and others contain nuich valuable nuUter, and 
doubtless thei'c is more in manuscript in some of the executive dei)art- 
ments. We should reconuuend, first, a collection on — 

Knvincipat'ion and aholltion. — This should embrace legislati\e, ex- 
ecutive, and judicial papers. The legislative should include the acts 
of ('ongress and of state legislatures, reports of conuuittees. and some 
bills. The executive should include the official ordei-s and recommen- 
dations of the President and the heads of departments, with selections 
from the interdepartmental correspondence. The judicial should in- 
clude a chronological list of the federal cases, with the leading opin- 
ions in full and the remainder in sununary. With the series might 
properly be included the important portion of the "Slave Trade and 
Colonization Papers," from l.sr)4 to 1872, preserved in the I)e])artment 
of the Interior and descril)ed by Van Tyne and Leland (p. 202). 

C(»)ji>«'af'<n). — This subject overlaps in some measure that just con- 
sidered, and should be ti'eated on the whole in iho same manner. The 
bulk of the material would greatly (>xceed that touching emancipation 
and al)olition. For the latter, two oi' three volumes might suffice; for 
coidiscation at hiast tlouble that number would be necessary. 

C(nif('dei'((tt' (urhives. — Oreat mas.ses of Confederate archives are 
pi'esei'ved in the Treasury and Wai* Departments and th(> Lil)rary of 



HTSTORICAl, PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 23 

Congress. Of these the Journals of the Confederate Comg^ress, in 7 
vohnnes, have been printed by the United States Government as a 
Senate doi'ument, and the Messas^es and Papers of the Confederate 
President, with most of the diplomatic correspondence, hav(? been 
published by J. D. Richardson, as a private enterprise, in 2 volumes. 
The distinctively militarv and naval papers have been exhaustively 
exploited for the _i>-reat series of Official Records of tlie War. There 
remains a ij;reat collection of matter in whieli is embedded the detailed 
history of the Confederate administration in its financial, postfil, and 
judicial aspects. That the printing- of much of this matter is of the 
utmost importance to historical knowledge goes without saying. In 
just what form or order and on just what scale the enterprise should 
be undertaken are questions that can not l)e answered without a more 
exact knowledge of the contents of the Confederate archives than is 
derivable from Van Tyne and Iceland. 

Recotisitrnction. — The official documentary materials relating specif- 
ically to the problems and processes of Reconstruction have for the 
most part been printed. They are in the reports of the military (com- 
manders in the South or in those of the numerous investigationsnnsti- 
tuted by the two Houses of Congress; but while the quantit\' of printed 
material is very great it is scattered and hard to use, and might well 
be segregated and reproduced in a series of volumes expressing a 
coherent system. Such a series might begin with the general and 
comprehensive documents — e. g., the records of the Freedmen's Bu- 
reau, the report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and that 
of the floint Committee' on the late Insurrectionary States, and the 
records of the tive militaiy districts created by the act of March 2, 
18<)7. After such general* matter, the series should present. State by 
State, the various executive and Congressional documents in their 
proper order and relations, with additional material from manuscript. 

Whether as an appendix to such a series or in independent form, 
the complex n)ass of Congressional documents relating to the disputed 
Presidential election of 1876-77 should be reproduced. 

Uriojfi''!al I\(per.<<. — The printing of a couple of volumes of wisely 
selected documents from the papers of Andrew Johnson, preserved in 
the Division of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, would be as 
great a sei'vice to historical science, for the period of 1861-1875, as 
could be suggested under this head. Selections from the papers of 
Chase, Holt, Trumbull, and E. H. Washburne in the same collection 
would have a similar value. 

B. FINANCIAL AND COMMEKCIAI. HISTORY. 

In the history of the finances and commerce of the United States 
the (jovernment has done little toward ]:)reparing adequate presenta- 
tions beyond statistical material, of which it has published much, but 
usually in an indigested form, and as called for by a special condition or 
emergency. The printed "sources" of this history are the same as 
belong to other subjects of administration, e. g. . those embraced in 
the American State Papers. The unprinted material consists of the 
correspondence of the Treasuiy Department with its ditferent agents 
throughout the country, and special reports on certain subjects, pre- 
pared for the information of the Dei)artment and not submitted to 
Congress, nor published unless specitically called for by either House 



24 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S, GOVERNMENT. 

of Congress. The files of the Department are not complete, and 
^rom various causes material has been lost or destroyed. 

In the destruction of papers the want of system pursued has bfeen 
obvious. No one trained in history or connected with a collecting 
body like the Library' of Congress has been detailed to examine the 
papers desit>nated for destruction, Vvith a view to retaining wliat is 
possessed of a historical character, and the existing tiles of the dillerent 
departments are not as a rule subject to a custodian who has either the 
hi.-torjcal knowledge or the historical instinct. 

In the American State Papers are the messages of the Presidents, 
the •'Finance"" ofiicial reports and statements, reports of committees 
of Congress, and mcMiiorials and petitions addressed to Congress on 
financial and commercial subjc^cts u}) to the tii'st session of the Twen- 
tieth Congress (May, IS^S). While imperfect as to the earlier Con- 
gresses, this compilation is the fullest and most comprehensive in 
intention yet undertaken by the Government, but it is not as compre- 
hensive as the subjects merit, and the form and arrangement leave 
nuich to be desired. Many papers are included which need not be 
reprinted, for th(Mr interest is not permanent and the pul)lished lists 
of the public documents make them accessible. It also includes many 
state papers of the highest importance, whi'-h could be again issued 
in more convenient form and with such editing and annotation as their 
v»-lue in history demands. Of a like character are 2 volumes on 
"Commerce and Navigation"' and 1 volume on "Claims" in this series, 
both of which classes are carried out to lis23, under the same limita- 
tions as the "P'inance" volumes. 

Apart I'rom this publication, what theGoverjimcnt has already done 
in this particular line has been largely called out for a special pui-pose 
and in connection with a particular measure. We have in mind only 
the more impoi'tant of these i)ublications; for a vast quantity of com- 
pilation has been performed by bureaus or individuals and printed by 
one House or the other of Congress, of little or no permanent value 
and involving a great waste of time and money. The unequal merit 
of this outi)ut makes it dillicult to decide how far the entire Held has 
adpijuately been covered. 
ylJc part III eutnl r('gulati<>nf<. — Laws are general in their description of 
functions and duties, and as a consequ«Mue there gnjws up in each 
department an amount of administrative I'ules and regulations which 
is essential to a proper interpretation of the results. Mmli of these 
regulations may be obsolete from the administrative standpoint, and 
so far as the Treasury is concerned it is doubtful if that Department 
even possesses a complete file of the circulars issued from its various 
divisions. A great deal of what is regarded as obsolete has distinct 
historical vahv. It repiesents the olHiial interpn^tation of a law. and 
this interpretation has not infrequently l)een modilied or set aside by 
a judicial interj)retation when matters in dispute have been brought 
to a higher court. These regulations j)rescril.e the rules and forms 
for keeping books and accounts, for making returns to the central 
bureau or Department, and emijody administrative features or inside 
machinery of the Dt'partment. They frequently contain references 
to current political events which make it necessary to suspend old, or 
intr<)(lu<e new, methods. We need only instance the days of the 
embargo, a period of war with a foreign country, the operations of 
the vaiious national banks, and the (juestions involved in the civil war, 
to indicate how important these often temporary regulations may be. 



HISTOEICAL PUBLICATIONS OF TPIE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 25 

We do not know of any partial compilation of this material, and a 
publication would involve a selection according- to subject or according 
to the periods of time. Tariff, internal taxation, navigation laws, 
governmental currency, and public loans would be among the more 
important financial sul)jects. The framing of taritf laws, the enforce- 
ment of eml)argocs or trade restrictions, the interpretation of the 
various tariffs, and the operations of national banks and subticasury 
would lend themselves to a treatment by periods of time. Only an 
examination of the material could enable a judgment to l)e formed, 
which method would be the better, but it may be easily seenM:hat if a 
continuation of the American State Papers were contemplated there is 
abundance of valuable new material for the series on "Finance.'"' 

As to the debates of Cong'ress and the larger number of Congres- 
sional documents, a series of references to the more important discus- 
sions on linance. and a note to an important report or paper giving the 
Tlatcs of discussion and action taken in both Houses, would be sufficient. 

Private /-Y/yerv.- — The material contained in private papers can hardly 
be neglected in compilations on economic sulijects, and especially when 
these papers are in the possession of the Goveriunent. It is only 
necessary to name the series of the Papers of the Pi'esidents in the 
Library of Congress to indicate the' importance of their contents — 
^^'ashing•ton, Jefferson, ^Madison, Monroe. Jackson, Polk. Pierce, and 
Johnson. To these should be added the Robert Morris, Hamilton, 
Gallatin, and Corwin papers. Not only do they often give the exchange 
of notes on financial and commercial propositions, but they are rich in 
correspondence on these sul)jects with leading authorities in the States. 
To ( arry out the plan consistently, reference should be had to published 
papers, biographies, and memorials of those who had an important 
part in framing important finam-ial measures, or who had gained repu- 
tation in ex-ecuting them. As instances of such material may be named 
the l»iogi aphies of Morris, Hamilton, Gallatin. A. J. Dallas, Van Buren. 
C'hase, and Fessenden; and the memoirs of McCulloch, Boutwell. and 
Sherman. This material is constantly growing in ])ulk and in im})or- 
tance. A judicious selection from the different collections would be 
of advantage. 

licport^ of tlie Seeretwriex of the Tretixnrii. — The most important 
compilation for financial history should be that of the reports of the 
Secretary of the Treasury. In 1837-1851 a partial compilation of the 
reports was made and printed in ti volumes. Not only is it very 
incomplete, but it is a mere compilation to 1849. Nor is the pu))lica- 
tion in the American State Papers any moi'e satisfactory, though much 
fuller, and embodying all the then known comnuinications from the 
Secretary of the Treasury to Congress down to 1S28. In the new 
compilation, which might come down to 1865, or even to f STH (the one 
being the end of the war, the other being the resumpticni of specie 
payments), theic should l)e references to other documents and reports, 
illustrative notes, and a careful editing out of what was merely formal, 
temporarily, and nonessential. Such a compilation would not require 
more than 6 or 7 volumes, and would naturally form the great source 
of information on the finances. 

/"Other desirable compilations of State Papci's on special topics 
would include: 

(«) The finances of the War of Independence. 

(/y) The Holland loans. 



26 HISTORITAL PUBLTCATIONS OF THE IT. S. GOVERNMENT. 

(e) War financo. 181i>-lS16, 1S46-1S4S, 1S(U-1m;5. 

(d) Tariti' legislation. A compilation of the law.s, made hy U. G. 
Proctor, was published in 18t»S, but a new compilation should contain 
references to memorials and petitions, debates in Congress, and special 
reports on the subject. A lej^islative history of each tariff act wo«ld 
be valuable. 

(r) Banks — national. 

(./') Coinage, and bullion production and movement. 

((/) Currency, treasury notes, o-reenbacks (legal tenders). 

At lea*5t one volume would l)e reijuired for each of these sul)jects, 
and this limit would l)e exceeded in three of the items. The exact 
number of volumes would depend upon the plan of editing. 

Foreign commevre. — The materials for a histor}'' of the foreign com- 
merce of the United States exist in large quantities and almost 
entirely in manuscript form. We know of no recentcompilation which 
gives the full text of commercial treaties and reciprocity agreements, 
with such correspondence as led to the framing of the contract and 
the legislation involved. It is true the intlucnre of treaties of com- 
merce has been strongly felt only in comparatively recent yeai's, the 
formal and limited conunercial treaty of the past ati'ording safeguard 
to trade)' and merchandise in foreign countries. Hut the consular cor- 
respondence in the Department of State is a rich mine of material 
relating to commercial relations with other countries since 178U and is a 
mine as yet untouched. These relations were often diplomatic as well 
as commercial, and would thus fall more properly in the diplomtitic 
section. But in themselves they would give a full ])ictu]e of the 
treatment accorded to American commerce throughout the world, and 
trace from the colonial l)egiimings the growth of over-sea trade and 
the upbuilding of an export trade that has always been essential to 
American economic development. Unfortunately the papers of the 
rSifterent custom-houses, which could supplen«;ent this consular cor- 
res))ondence have been for the most ])art destroyed. 

Tiie tratle of the great rivers and the general movement, inwaril and 
outward, demands something more than the mere figures, and the 
additional facts could only beot>tained from the origin;il papiM's. The 
perfunctoi'V compilations of trade returns, which prevailed before 
18t)T. and which have been pi'inted in various places, are ?iot sullicient 
for historical purposes; and the destruction in large part of the original 
returns makes it impossible to complete the record. 

On commerce and commercijil relations may be suggested the follow- 
ing compilations: 

ConsukiT- reports from 1T81>— to be selected. 

Commercial treaties and reciprocal agreiMuents. 

Si)ecial reports l)y ex])erls on c(Mnmercial conditions. 

It is impossible tt) estimate the number of volumes needed, as the 
material is now in more than one departnnMit. 

Interridl voiinih'vc.c. — Th(^ American State Papers, Finant-e, contains 
some statistical material for internal commerce, extendi. ig to 1828. 
The Treasury Departinent's series of liepoits on Internal Conunercc 
begins in 187(5; the reports of the Intersttite Commerce Commission 
in 1887. The Monthly Suuunary of Connnerce and Finance adds new 
nrati'rial and regroups it for historical use. More lecently the divi- 
sions of tile Department of C^)nlm(M•ce and Labor, especially the\arious 
branches which deal with navigation, steamboat inspection, light- 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 27 

houses, coast and oeodetic survey, the census, anrl statistics, make re- 
ports which show what could be done in constructing an historical 
series to serveas the preface to these hiter publications. The secondary 
authorities, using state as well as federal material, should be utilized 
in presenting- the material for earl}' periods. JNewspapers would yield 
supplementary data. ' Moreover, there are archives not yet exploited, 
such as the manuscript collections of the collector of the port of New 
Orleans, recently saved from destruction and now preserved in the 
Library of Congress, which furnish much original material for the his- 
tory of the conimerce of the Mississippi Valley before the days of the 
railroad. 

j:\ ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY. 

The field of economic and social history, outside of finance and com- 
merce, is one of peculiar difficulty, due to its extent, to the compara- 
tively recent recognition of tlu' importance of the economic and social 
aspects of American history, to the recent date of establishment of 
various governmental l)ureaus dealing with the divisions of the field of 
this report, and conse<iuently to the lack of federal archival material 
upon some of them. Yet it must be remembered that the I'nited States 
has been primarily a peaceful nation, and that its contributions to his- 
tory lie iii the field of industrial and social development quite as much 
as in that of political institutions, and much more than in the field of 
war or foreign relations; and it is also to be ol)served that the move- 
ment, the whole world over, toward a deeper study of economic and 
social history, is likely to manifest itself, indeed is already' manifest- 
ing itself, in the L Jiited States. It is so important to promote an 
unuerstiinding of the present United States through a study of the 
most significant documents illustr.ating its development that a com- 
mittee which aims at looking well forward, intr) the future need not 
hesitate to set forth ideals which are not capable of immediate realiza- 
tion. Our statement of ideals will be followed by a view of what is 
most practicable and advisable for present work, shaped in accord with 
the proposal, made on a previous page, of a continuation of the Ameri- 
can State Papers. 

Tlh' ideal. — Hitherto the United States Government has confined 
itself to the publication of materials in its own possession. But in 
many fields of economic and social history the maintenance of this 
restriction would result in a most partial and misleading pi'esentation 
of the facts which historians seek. Prior to recent activity in collect- 
ing and publishing certain sorts of data, e. g. , on la))or and on agri- 
culture, federal material is lacking. In several such fields no really 
instructive bodies of data can be set before the reader without at least 
laying under contribution the materials, in manuscript and in print, 
oftentimes rare, possessed by the States. Furthermore, though some 
objections arise against going outside the bounds of official documents, 
(federal or state, there are some subjects whose adequate illustration 
requires resort to private matei-ials. We believe that the United 
States (iovernment should soon orgtmize its historical work in such a 
shape as to employ trained investigators in collecting as well as select- 
ing material. The French Government's Commission on the P^conomic 
History of the French Revolution (a most important body, whose worlc 
is described by P. Caron in the American Historical Review for April, 
1908), includes such search among its functions. 



28 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

Moainvhile in the United States a ijreat amount of such collectintj is 
beino- done by the Department of Economic Research in tlie Carneo"ie 
Institution of Washino-ton, and by the American Bureau of Industrial 
Research, at Madison, VV is. The former will print many niate- 
rials in its Contrii)utions to the Economic History of the rniled States. 
The latter has devoted itself with oreat success to the collection of 
orioinal material relating to industrial history, especialh' that of labor 
movements, and to the judicious selection of portions for pul)lication. 
Thus, it has ready a volume of documents, collected from all kinds of 
sources, showino- the typical features of the antebellum southern plan- 
tation and of industrial society on the frontier: another composed of 
the original reports, etc., of the earlv labor conspirac}' cases down to 
the iirst great lalior movement of ISIjG. and others exhibiting the 
organization and actions of labor unions, employers' associations, and 
workingmen's parties in that and subsequent eras. The work of these 
two bodies shows the practicability, under proper expert control, of 
such collection and organization of material as that which we have 
declared to be in some fields desirable. 

In the framing and conduct of any such ideal scheme an important 
question would be that of the reprinting of what is already in })rint. 
It is much more important to print that which has never been printed 
before. Yet the mass of the printed pul)lic documents of the United 
States is so unwieldy, and to many investigators so inaccessible, as to 
make it difficult to use them for purposes of industrial history. Though 
there is at least one good collection of the Congressional sei'ies in 
almost every State, there will always be a use for more manageable 
series in which the cream of the material valuable for history has been 
/set aside. If in one somewhat voluminous collection we could have 
.such a selection of dociunents as this, along with referent-es fo the 
complete series and skillfully compressed statistical matter, and the 
best of the additions that ci>uld be made from federal, state, and pri- 
vate manuscript, the gain to vital history would be very great. 

SiiggesflonK for t!ie prcxiiH: — Hut without expecting the iunnediate 
realization of all these hopes, we are earnest in urging that in any 
large project of government historical publication, such as that con- 
tinuation of the American State Pajiers which we have recommended, 
a lilieral and modern view l)e maintained toward those aspects of 
national development which found no recognized place in the old col- 
lection. Pi'ai-tical <'onsi(lerations may seem to re(|uire that such a 
continuation should be mostly madi^ up of federal olhcial documents 
rather than those of state or piivate origin, of manuscript or rare 
print rather than of the easily accessible, antl of papers bearing date 
subsefjuent to about 1829. liut it would be a harmful pedantry and an 
unwise economy which would hold rigidly to eithei' of these three 
criteria. Some documents anterior to 178!> will deserve inclusion, 
even though in is-j;» th«\v seemed unimportant; some that are alreadx 
accessible in ])rint will ne(>d to be inserted in ordei- to have them a; 
hand for comjjarison with fresh material; and if relative conqjleteness 
re(|uires the insertion of some papeis not actually possessed by the 
Federal Govermnent, th(\v should not be excluded. We ]irocee(l to 
som(> desciiption of the various proposed series— old series contiimed 
<5r new. 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. G0VERNME2s'T. 29 



XATIOXAL STATE PAPERS. 



GeiKjrapliy, — The histoi\v of a new country plainly calls for such a 
subdivision. 1'he seines would natu.rally include unpul)lis))cd or rare 
reports of exploration or selections from them, topographical surve3'3 
which might be used for historical purposes, and especially selections 
from surveys undertaken to prepare the way for internal improve- 
ments. Obviously purely technical details should be omitted. The 
earliest important exploring expedition overland, that of Lewis and 
dark, has been given so complete a documentary publication by a 

CJDrivate enterprise under the editorshii) of Dr. K. G. Thwaites that 
nothing remains for the Government to do in this connection, but 
there are other explorations for which material doubtless exists which 
should be examined with a view to publication. Possibh' some por- 
tions of the reports of explorations for the Pacific railroads might 
be republished for the light cast upon early conditions in tlie trans- 
Mississip])i half of the country. Van Tyne and Leland (p. 260) note 
certain letters on this subject which should be examined. ()ther mate- 
rial for the series could ]irobably be derived from the files of the Coast 
and Geodetic Survey in the Department of Conmierce and Labor, the 
Bureau of Soils and the Biological Survey in the Department of Agri- 
culture, and the topographiral Bureau in the AVar Department. 

Laiia'K. — There is no subject more fundamental in American history 
than that of the public lands. Donaldson's The Public Domain (U'ash- 
ington. 18S-t) needs revision arid continuation. This might well take 
the form of a continuation of the Public Land series of the Amei'ican 
State Papers, with fundamental documents, and analysis and conden- 
sation of statistics; maps showing the successive stages of survey and 
opening of lands to settlement; documents illustrating corruption, 
drawn from testimony in cases, etc.; leading opinions, departmental 
and judicial; data exhibiting in brief the processes of transfer to 
States, from States to corporations and individuals, and from railroads 
to European and American settlers; selected colonial and State laws 
which will show the origins of the federal system: and. since Ameri- 
can democracy is largely to be explained in terms of land tenure, some 
materials illustrating the general conditions of landholding in other 
areas than that of the feder;il domain. Van Tyne and Lelamrs (luide. 
es])eciali3' pages 219-:^25, shows what a mass of material is to be con- 
sidered and the need, visible in many fields, of expert departmental 
advice upon plans for its exploitation. 

Agriculture. — The annual reports on agriculture began in 1841 ; 
])rior to 1862 they were printed as part of the report of the Commis- 
sioner of Patents. The Department of Agriculture, from the time 
of its establishment, has printed much, and there are indexes to its 
[publications from 1841 do^^^l. But for the earlier period, and for 
the significant features of the history of American agriculture, the 
student must use state agricultural society and departmental reports, 
periodicals, and descriptions by travelers and others, such as the 
anonymous American Husbandry (London, 1775) and J. F. W. 
Jolmston's Notes on North America (1851). Particularly this dearth 
exists prior to about 1840, but in many respects much later. Inas- 
much as agriculture has been the dominant industry of the greater 
part of the United States through most of its history, it is desirable 
that collections should be made from such sources as those just men- 



30 HISTOKICAL PUiSLlCATlOJS'S OF THE U. 8. GUVEKiSJMENT. 

tioned and that a series should he puhhshed, gatherin<2: together the 
most funthmiental accounts of American agricuUure and exhihiting 
the changes and migration of its principal crops hy such documents 
and hy compendious statistics. Man}' phases of American social 
and political history find their explanation in agricultural changes. 
The place of cotton cultivation in American economic and political 
life is a sufficient illustration; hut the statistics of wheat cultivation 
hy periods and regions would also throw much light on national his- 
tory-. The development of agricultural machinery, the changes in 
methods of production in general, the relation of agriculture to trans- 
portation and ciu'rency problems, and similar topics should be in- 
cluded. Like reasons call for the inclusion in such a series of analo- 
gous data of the earlier period respecting animal industry, the history 
of the forests and the timber industry, and of fisheries and mining. 
Manufactures. — Probably the census is a sufficient historical 
publication from 1850. Despite the imperfection of previous cen- 
suses, it may be found that enough material exists in accessible print 
to illustrate sufficiently tlie development of mainif'actures from the 
end of the American State Papers, Finance, 1828 to 1850. 

Labor and industrial orgtnization. — Here the case is like that of 
agriculture. The reports oP the Commissioner of Labor begin in 
1886, and these and the Bulletins are a mine of material from that 
date. But for the earlier period there is need of documentan,' collec- 
tion and publication. There are some Congressional committee 
Jreports available, such as data in connection with tariff, panics, etc. 
The most striking illustration of what can be done by well-conducted 
collection of documents on the history of a given labor topic is 
E. Stewart, Early Organizations of Printers, Bureau of I^abor Bulletin 
61. It collects documents from all sources, selects the niore im- 

gsrtant, and furnislies brief introductions. The work of the American 
ureau of Industrial Research, mentioned in a previous jniragraph, 
shows the practicability of a series which shall rest upon unofficial 
sources and treat the period neglected by the Government. The 
development of business organizations, corporations, etc., stands on 
the same basis. 

Trans porP'tion and Post-Office. — It would be Mell to continue to 
the end of the civil war ])eii()d the j^ublication in compact form of 
documents bearing on the Post-Ollice similar to those found in the 
volume of the American State Papers devoted to that subject. 
They cast much light on the economic growth and social development 
of the country, and would be valuable in many branches of historical 
work. But the inunonse develo])ment of transportation since 1829 
makes it even more desirable to furnish documentary material resjiect- 
ing it, esj^eciallv in its earlier stages. Select (U^cuments illustrating 
plans and legislation for internal im])rov(MU(mt. the early develoji- 
ment of steand)oat na^'igation, of railroad l)uilding, chartering, state 
and fe<k^ral regulation, lailroad consolidation, antl the lise of the 
transcontinental systems could be so bnnight together as to have 
great value. 

Indians and neg,oes. — The series of the American State Papers 
devoted to Indian affairs should be continued on similar lines. There 
is likewise need of collected docunieuts relating to the negro anil the 
actiuil economic workings of'tbe institution of slavery. (3ther sul)- 
jects of population and social organization are suscepti)>le of similar 
treatment, but can not at present be satisfactorily developed. 



HISTOKICAL, PUBLICATION'S OF THE U. S. GOVERAUVIENT. 31 

D. DIPLOMATIC HISTORY. 

Existing jyrinted collection fi. — For the period 1775-1783 we have 
S])arks's Diplomatic Correspondence of the American evolution and 
uMiarton's . evolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, a fairly satis- 
factory collection. For the next period v,e have the Diplomatic 
Correspondence of * * * 1783-1789, seventy-five 3"ears old and 
far from complete, though it contains nearly all that the Government 
possesses. The American State Papers, Foreign i elations, cover the 
period from 1789 to 1828 after a fashion, but are nearh^ confinetl to 
correspondence sent to the Senate from which the Senate had removed 
the injunction of secrecy. A carefvd estimate, based on many days of 
painstaking inspection by a member of this committee, is to the efl'ect 
that while aljovit oiie-half of the existing manuscript diplomatic cor- 
respondence of these forty years consists of material that ought now 
to i)e in print, only about one-fourth is actually to be found in the 
volumes of the series named. Between 1828 and 1860 there is no 
single series of volumes containing the diplomatic correspondence or 
other materials on our diplomatic history. The documejits are found 
in the series of Congressional documents under differing titles. Few 
libraries have them all, and they are so scattered as to be hard to use. 
Moreover, they embrace isolaj^ed, selected papers, such as it suited 
the President or the Secretary of State to send to Congress. From 
1861 we have the annual issue, in general one volume each year, of 
papers relating to the Foreign .elations of the United Stittes. 

iJie period from 1775 to 17S3. — We have for this ])oriod documen- 
tary colh'ctions that are fairly satisfactory, but at some future time 
the situation might be improved. In one important particular the 
character of this period would justify an enlargement of the scope 
of diplomatic publication which could hardl}^ be defended for the 
period subsequent to 1783. After that date it would not be prudent 
to recommend the inclusion of large masses of material from foreign 
arcliives. However desirable it ma}^ be to exhibit the ''other side" 
of diplomatic controversies and actions, it would be felt that, in the 
main, it is for foreign governments to publish their own archive 
mat'-riul. The exceptions should be limited to a small number of 
significant documents necessary for the elucidation of American 
jnatcrials. But this limitation hardly applies to the period ending 
[>vith the treaties of 1783, the period in which the United States was 
struggling for independence through a war involving several other 
countries and through negotiations which can not be followed save 
by using the archives of all these lands, yet which were of vital 
importance to the establishment of tliis nation. Such conditions 
will some time be held to justify a monumental edition of the diplo- 
matic ])apers of the Revolution, an edition which would include the 
thousands of ilocuments that are to be foimd in the Earo])ean arcliives. 
The archives of Spain, though of intense interest, are almost un- 
touched. From the French archives we have not obtained much 
save what Doniol has permitted us to have in his Histoire de la Par- 
ticipation de la France a TEtablissement des Etats-Unis d'Amerique 
(Paris, 1886-1900). Stevens's Index in the Library of Congress 
would indicate the amount and the situs of all the material— Eng- 
lisli, French, Spanish, or Dutch. A part of it is alreatiy ])ossessed 
by the Government in the form of transcripts, tiie extens'ive collec- 



32 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

tion of so-callod Peace Transcripts at the Library of Congress. Tii 
-Vinerican material is, of course, in Washington, either ^imonc tli: 
Papers of the Continental Congress at the Library of Cony-ress'or in 
that section of those })apers which was retained "at tiie JDe])artnient 
of State, in accordance with the executive order for the transfer 
because of its rein tion to our diploniacv. ' 

The jienod from 1783 to 1789.— T\\q volumes printed seventy-five 
years ago, as mentioned above, were fairly well prepared and printed, 
except lor an inconvenient arrangemeiit. Though they are not 
procurable with ease, a new edition is not now in imperative need. 
Some time we should have a more thorough presentation of the 
American correspondence of the period wliich would also give at 
least the dispatches of the foreign ministers in this country to their 
home governments. There exists, in private hands in Anierica, the 
Gardoqui correspondence, wliicli wou.ld be of verv great interest and 
service. The American Historical Review contains the correspond- 
ence of the Comte de Moustier witli the Comte de Montmorin 1787- 
1789. 

C^he j)eno(l from 1789 to 1828. —In most fields we liave recom- 
mended that the American State Papers be simply continued from 
1829, with such modifications of plan as later developments have 
made appropriate, but without much efi'ort to go back beyond that 
date. But in diplomatic matters it is impossible to be content with 
what has been done in the earlier papers. Whereas the selection of 
material for the other series of that great work was effected by its 
editors, using their ov/n judgment, generally sound, as to what'was 
historically most im.portant in the great masses which lay before 
them, the material in the ''Foreign Relations" series represents in 
the main no principle of selection but the accident of communication 
to the Senate and tlie officials' judgment as to what it was expedient 
to make \n\h\k at the time. The papers thus printed are by no 
rneans in all instances the most im])ortant: fTcquently delicate"^ and 
significant sid)jects are omitted from the special line' of dispatches 
or instructions: often the most valuablo and illuminating portions 
of particular documents are omitted and the less useful ])ortions are 
printed. It appears, then, that we sliould have in print the diplo- 
matic correspondence for this period (1789-1828), and the oidy 
proper method is to disregard the folio edition of the American State 
Papers, to reprint wliat ai:>pears there and to add other material: 
this additional material mny make the whole, as has been intimated, 
twice as gre.at in (piantity as i( now is. 

If the estiniate approaches accuracy, it sliould be jiossible, with 
judicious editing, to print the diplomatic correspondence and other 
closely related material throwing light upon our diplomatic history 
to 1828 in 12 or 13 volumes like those of tiie American State Papers. 
Unimportant documents could l)e calendared and very unimportant 
ones only listed. 

The juriodfroiri 1828 to 1861.~M {.< when we enter tlie perioti after 
the ending of the American State Papej-s, however, that we encounter 
the need that is most evident and impeiative. From 182S to the out- 
break of the civil war. a time of great activity in foreign affairs, the dip- 
lomat iccorrespondence was j)iinled in the regular Congressional series 
ol publications, generally among the Hou.se orSenate executive docu- 
ments. Tl'.ere were .some four hundred such publications, relating to 



HISTORICAL PUBLIC ATIOXS OF THE U. S. GOVERN MEXT. 33 

diplomatic affairs, in the period from 1829 to 1861, besides the 
diplomatic materials which the President, after 1833, frequently ap- 
pended to his annual message; but the manuscript materials are still 
more ample. Now that the United States has become more deeply 
interested than ever before in its own diplomacy and the progressive 
development of its foreign relations, it would be of very great service 
to all students of liistory, to the workers in the Department of State 
and the diplomatic and consular service, and to other persons inter- 
ested in practical political aft'airs to have the diplomatic correspond- 
ence of this and the preceding period properly arranged and pub- 
lished in a new series, ''National State Papers, Foreign Relations, 
1789-1861." One might hope that discreet editing would bring all 
the important material for the later period within the compass of 
20 such folio volumes as those of the American State Papers. We 
believe that, of all the subdivisions of the proposed National State 
Papers, this is the one that could best be taken up first. 

E. MILITARY HISTORY. 

In the portion of its work relating to materials for military history 
the committee has been greatly aided by a detailed memorandum 
kindly supplied by Maj. Gen. F. C. Ainsworth, Adjutant-General of 
the United States Army. 

Lea^^ng out of account all records relating to the personnel of 
the regular and volunteer armies, and taking up first of all the 
material relating to militaiy operations, we consider only military 
archives of such general historical interest or value that, if they 
have not been heretofore satisfactorily printed, they should be 
made accessible to historians and investigators generally by publi- 
cation. The records to which special interest attaches are those 
of (a) the Revolutionary war, (b) the war of 1812, (c) the war with 
Mexico, (d) the civil war, (e) the war with Spain, and, in a some- 
what lesser degree, (/) the several Indian wars, and (g) the Philippine 
insurrection. 

Aiany of the official reports and much of the correspondence 
j;elating to military operations during those periods have been 
printed at some time in the Annual Reports of the War Depart- 
ment, in the series of Congressional documents, or in other govern- 
ment publications. The publications in which historical data 
relative to military operations during the later wars are to be found 
can be pointed out readily; but for the earlier wars the finding of 
such publications is a more difficult task, because of the incom- 
pleteness and the imperfect cataloguing of those publications. 

Practically all reports and correspondence on file in the War De- 
partment having general historical interest or value relative to the 
Philippine insurrection of 1899-1902 have been printed in the Annual 
Reports of the War Department for those years, mth supple- 
mentary matter in other Congressional documents easily found in the 
catalogues of public documents and accessible in many libraries. The 
same is true of the war with Spain in 1898, while all such material, 
Union or Confederate, relative to the civil war has been printed in the 
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Ai-mies, disseminated 
to the extent of 11,000 copies. Nothing more could be recommended 
in respect to sinj of these. 

S. Doc. 714, 60-2 .3 



34 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

^yar with Mexico. — The reports of the Secretary of War for 1847 
contain reports and some correspondence ; more is to be found in other 
Conti;ressional documents, especially Senate documents and House 
executive documents of the first session of the Thirtieth Congress. 
But these government pubUcations containing the military records of 
the Mexican war are so disconnected and some of them so diilicult to 
find that it is believed they should be reprinted, together with any 
heretofore unprinted historical militaiy archives of that war that may 
be found. The Military Secretary (now the Adjutant-General) of the 
Army, in his Annual Keport for 1906, reported that the collection of 
military records of this war, now in the possession of tlie War Depart- 
ment, was as complete as it could be made; that it would make about 
6 volumes of 1,000 pages each, of the same general style of the Official 
Records of the Civil War, costing about $11,000 each for printing and 
binding; and that the series could be made ready in a very short time 
a^tersuch ])ublication was authorized by Congress. It was his belief, 
and it is that of this comnnttee, that the first action with a view to 
the publishing of the War Department archives should be directed to 
the ])rinting of the Mexican war records. 

The war of 181 S and Indian wars. — The published military archives 
of the war of 1812 are more incomplete than those of the more recent 
wars, but some iniHtary correspondence and reports relative to it are 
printed in the American State Papers, Mlitary Affairs, in Brannan's 
Official Letters, in the Public Papers of Daniel D. Tompkins, and in 
The War, Niles's Register, and other periodical publications of the 
time. Historical data A\dth regard to military operations during the 
Indian wars prior to 1838 are to be found in the American State 
Papers, Militaiy Affairs, and (to 1827) Indian Affairs, while material 
relative to many later ladian wars is to be found in the Annual 
Reports of the Secretary of War. All these publications are incom- 
plete and fragmentary. While the Government possesses a great 
mass of manuscript material relating to these wars, so much of what 
is necessary to complete the records remains in the hands of States, 
historical societies, or private individuals that the first work must 
properly be one of collection or copying of outhang records. The 
mass of what is now in hand would make fewer volumes than in the 
case of the Mexican war, but printing should be postponed until 
the Government's materials are more complete. 

Revolutionary war. — The same is even more true of the War for 
Independence, the military record of which is now only partially cov- 
ered by Force's American Archives and many state publications. 
Acts of Congress approved July 27, 1892, and August 18, 1894, pro- 
vided that all military records of the Revolution and the war of 1812 
then in any other of the executive deitartments should be transferred 
to the War Department and there properly indexed and arranged 
for use. Fourteen years luive passed since the second of these enact- 
ments. Under existmg conditions at the War Department, their 
effect has been to make these materials entirely inaccessible to his- 
torians, as may be seen by a perusal of the regulations of 1897, 
printed in Van Tyne and Lcland (pp. 110-113) and still in force. 
Those regulations provide for proper su])ply of information to per- 
sons seeking pensions or admissions to "patriotic-hereditary socie- 
ties," but close the archives of the War Department absolutely to 
American liistorical investigators. Meanwhile, such records of the 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 35 

Revolutionary war as are possessed by the Department have been 
indexed and arranged for use, but the collection is so incomplete that 
no one could advise its publication as a whole. Certain series, such 
as the general orders of General Washington, could be published 
complete at present. But for anything analogous to what has been 
done for the civil war and is proposed for the Mexican war, a publi- 
cation embracing reports and correspondence in as complete extent 
as possible, further copying and collection is desirable before print- 
ing. We speak only of materials respecting military operations; in 
the publication of muster rolls and the like this committee as such 
has of course no interest. 

In military history, as in diplomatic histoiy, impartial historical 
writing demands that one should not confine himself to the witness 
borne by one combatant only. The true historian will wish to hear 
the other side and as completely as possible. Without use of the 
archives of Great Britain, France, Mexico, and Spain our government 
historical publications will have an ex parte character, much to be 
regretted. That the deficiency should be supplied by those countries 
is not to be expected, since to Great Britain, France, and Spain in 

f)articular these wars have been but episodes relatively brief in the 
ong centuries of their history. If it is not to be expected that publi- 
cation of foreign papers on these wars should be undertaken in full 
extent by the United States Government, at least the editors of our 
military-historical volumes should have the opportunity to study tlie 
relevant materials in foreign archives and to incorporate in their 
volumes some of the most significant papers thence derived. 

It is not to be forgotten, however, that the military archives of the 
United States contain much else than simply the records of its mili- 
tary 1 operations. The army was so largely the advance guard of 
American civilization in its westward march across the Continent 
that the archives contain a great wealth of material for the under- 
standing of pioneer conditions and the early history of all parts of 
the United States but the Atlantic seaboard. Surveys, explorations, 
earlj^ routes to transportation, relations with the Indians, the found- 
ing of forts and military posts out of which cities have grown, all 
receive so copious illustration from these archives that it would be a 
narrow-minded policy to confine publication from them to papers of 
purely military interest. They have a large part in all work upon 
our social history. 

F. NAVAL HISTORY. 

Printed documents respecting our naval history are chiefly to be 
found in Force's American Archives, The American State Papers, 
Naval Affairs, the British Naval Chronicle (1798-1818), Brannan's 
Official Letters (1823), Goldsborough's Naval Chronicle (1824), 
Niles's Register, the Canadian Archive Reports, Cruikshank's Docu- 
mentary History of the Campaigns upon the Niagara Frontier, the 
annual and occasional reports of the Secretary of the Navy, Reports 
and Dispatches (1849), and the Official Records of the Union and 
Confederate Navies now in course of publication by the Government. 
But other very important documents must often be sought in places 
widely scattered. The court of inquiry asked by Commander Elliott, 
in 1815, upon his conduct on Lake Erie, is printed in one unofficial 



36 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE. U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

work; Perry's voluminous specifications against him, in 1S18, in 
another — neither by the Government; both are necessary to the 
historian. The British minister, Mr. Foster, wrote to Monroe reams 
upon the questions then pending between the United States and 
Great Britain; but a document ])rinted in the Hfe of the Marq^uis of 
Wellesley, liis Instructions to Foster, sets forth the British position on 
the continental system with a succinctness, logic, and force nowhere 
else to be found. 

Further publication should for the present be confined to the 
military activities of the Navy, to the post])onement of civil and ad- 
^ ministrative papers. In view of the extensive publication of naval 
records concerning the civil war, now proceeding, we see no reason 
for recommendation, unless it be that the "Letters from Foreign 
Consuls" (United States consuls abroad) mentioned in Van Tyne and 
Leland (pp. 190, item 26), should be printed. They touch on tli- 
blockade and kindred matters, and the blockade was one of the mosi 
important military measures of that war. The letters referred to 
represent in a degree its external aspect. 

From the brief duration and limited action of the war of 1898 with 
vSpain and from the voluminous publication already made we infer 
that the greater part of the documents are already in print, though 
at some time a fuller publication of telegrams may be desired, since 
the part which the cable played in this war was exceptionally great. 

Turning to the earlier naval conflicts, it is profitable to remark 
that there are in every war conspicuous features which sliould in 
part determine the course and nature of research. Thus, in the war 
of 1812, we have, first, the prevalence of battles between single 
ships, owing to the vast inferiority of American naval strength; 
second, owing to the same cause, the completeness of the blockade 
of the American coasts, producing an exhaustion of means in the 
midst of plenty, a financial catastrophe, which compelled peace 
without obtaining the formal concession of any one of the points 
for which the nation went to war; third, the fact that naval prepon- 
derance on the Great Lakes, whether established by victories, as on 
Erie and Chann)lain, or held in uncertain balance by a cautious 
• policy of shii)buil(Iing, as on Ontario, protected the northern border 
of the L^nited States and rentkned fruitless the British land opera- 
tions in that region. Now, whenever it is possible to recognize before- 
hand such determining features, a clue is placed in the hands of the 
searcher of archives as to what is comparatively important to print. 

Revolutionary war. — The United States Navy, despite the bnlhant 
action of Paul Jones and one or two others, exercised no eflVct upon 
the outcome of the war, except upon Lake Champlain, in 1776. The 
^Imerican control of that lake in that year postponed the British 
invasion to 1777, entailing thus the decisive consequences of Sara- 
toga and its sequel in the French alliance. The documentary history 
of the operations on Lake Chani]ilain, therefore, deserves fuller treat- 
ment, in which, besides the jiapers already printed in the American 
Archives and elsewhere, attention should be directed to additional 
papers possessed by the ITnited States Government, state govern- 
ments, the British Public Record Office, and the Archives of War 
and Marine, in Paris. In several other parts of the conflict land and 
naval operations were so closely interwoven that the papers relating 
to them should be fused into one whole. The actions oi privateers 



HTSTOETCAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 37 

v,er3 often brilliant, and in the mass they influenced tbe result, but 
our Government has few of the necessarj^ materials for their history, 
and it is doubtful if the matter can be illustrated bj^ any general 
documentary publication. 

Triyolitan war. — As the Barbary pirates were the immediate origi- 
nating cause of the United States Navy, the hostilities against them 
derive thence an interest to our naval history quite bej^ond their 
petty scale or militar}^ value. To illustrate the subject properly, it 
should be considered as a whole, from the depredations on American 
shipping, immediately after our protection by the British navy 
ceased, down to the conclusion of the peace of 1816. Documents 
should be selected to illustrate the depredations, the tribute paid 
by us to the several Barbaiy powers, our dependence on Portugal 
for protection, the dismay felt when Portugal made peace wath the 
pirates, the legislation authorizing a naval force, the actual hostili- 
ties, including Decatur's action with the Algerine naval vessels in 
1815. References, at least, might well be inserted to the already 
printed debates of Congress touching the institution of a navy; they 
are a part of naval history-, broadly considered. 

Closely allied with these topics is the general question of Mediter- 
ranean commerce, and that of the gunboat system of Jefferson. It 
is probable that the ''Captains' letters," "Commanders' letters," etc., 
still mostly unprihted, would give much incidental light upon IMedi- 
terranean trade and piratical depredations, from which the Mediter- 
raneanllittoral suffered much more than the United States shipping. 
It does' not appear that the gunboat system has ever been illustrated 
by adequate and systematic publication. Yet, though utterly incon- 
sequent in itself, the system has historical importance, because, under 
Jefferson's influence, it stunted the rising navy, and so at the least 
aided to bring on the war of 1812. 

War of 1812. — The documents printed in the American State 
Papers, Naval Affairs, are incomplete and unsatisfactory from the 
historical point of view. The series of "Letters received" and 
^'Letters sent" in the Navy Department should be carefidly gone over 
for the years 1810-1816, inclusive, attention being specifically directed 
upon (1) the single-ship actions, which have obtained in popular 
recognition an esteem which we can not properly disregard; (2) upon 
reports of officers commanding naval stations, as to tlie blockade, and 
operations of the enemy's vessels on the coast, including especially 
all transactions in the Chesapeake; (3) upon the general history of 
preparations and of action upon the Great Lakes. When army and 
navy are both engaged, as in the Chesapeake and on the Lakes, military 
correspondence will sometimes contain an essential part of a common 
programme, or one side of a dispute. Pertinent documents in Niles's 
Register and similar publications, the originals of which are not in 
the files of the Department, should be either included in the pub- 
lication or adequately referred to. 

The log books of United States vessels, where preserved, may 
furnish data or importance, although log books of that day, British 
and American, are commonly scanty in information. Court-martial 
records are far more valuable. The proceedings of the court held on 
the survivors of the ChesapeaJce have not been printed. The same is 
true of the courts on the officers of the Guerriere, Macedonian, and 
Java, and those of the British squadrons defeated on lakes Erie and 



38 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE V. S. GOVERNMENT. 

Chamjilain. All these are very full and necessary to any historian 
discussing the actions. The instructions issued by the British 
Government to its officers, both military and naval, seaboard and 
lake, are as essential to an understanding of operations as are those 
of our own Government. 

""^ar v:ith Mexico. — In the way of fighting, the Navy in its proper 
sphere had little to do in this war, for there was no Mexican navy. 
But the transactions on the west coast, having to do \vith the acquisi- 
tion of the territory ceded by Mexico, are of national importance. 

In naval material the principle that it is not enough to consult the 
materials possessed by one side is emphasized by the almost invari- 
able naval practice of holding a court-martial in any case of serious 
disaster. The result of this procedure is the accumulation of a mass 
of sworn testimony by expert eyewitnesses. Few questions are asked 
of victors; they tell their story much as they v^ll; the vanquished 
must furnish explanations, and at large. The beaten side thus fur- 
nishes the better field for the historian. 

SUMMARY OF CHIEF RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The enterprises which in the course of the preceding survey have 
been recommended with most emphasis, and wliich we regard as 
having the leading claims for early undertaking, are the following: 

Commissions and Instructions to the Governors of the American 
Colonies. 

State Trials. 

Papers of Andrew Jackson. 

National State Papers, continuing the old series of the American 
State Papers, Foreign Pelations, Finance, etc., and adding new series 
for Agriculture, Manufactures, Labor and Industrial Organization, 
Internal Commerce, etc. 

Official Records of the War with Mexico. 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 

From the detailed survey which has preceded, it is obvious that we 
are still far from having all the documents that we need for satis- 
factory dealing with the great problems of American liistorj'. The 
gaps in its published records are many and important. The sum 
total of the desiderata we have indicated is a formidable one, involving 
voluminous publication, great editorial labors, and much expense. 
But we can not too strongly insist that in bringing together the 
materials for a rational and scientific programme we are not advoca- 
ting Ithe immediate execution of all its parts. To attempt the whole 
at once, to attempt any part of it without deliberate consideration, in 
which should bo invoked the judgment both of experts within the 
departments and qualified historical scholars ffom without, wouldbe 
to invite disaster. We have endeavored to point out what needs to 
be done. It is no part of our purpoSe to enlist the Government in 
extravagant schemes : our desire is rather to pave the way to a procedure 
whereby, M'ithout greater expenditure upon documentary historical 
publications than at present, a product may be secured which will 
meet more fullv the needs of the Government, of historians, and of 
the public, and be a source of crecHt to the nation. It should be 
possible, with due regard to all these interests, to select, from among 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 39 

the many enterprises that we have signahzed as desirable, those 
which call most loudly for immediate execution. Such qualitative or 
comparative judgments we have in many instances attempted to 
suggest, and in the last preceding section have emphasized the 
projects we deem most important. The final determination as to 
what should come first we deem it expedient to leave to a permanent 
commission, which we earnestly hope to see established. 

A large part, if not all, of the ho]ied-for ]5roduct could be, as we 
have said, grouped under the general title "National State Papers," 
an extensive collection embracing several series. According to our 
conception of such a collection, its various series and volumes should 
follow a uniform plan. Editors chosen for their special competence 
in the fields respectively covered should go over all the material, 
printed and unprinted, domestic and foreign, possessetl by the Federal 
Government or not. They should then include or exclude documents 
deliberately, and in obedience to principles carefully thought out in 
the case of each of these classes of material — ])rinciples which have 
been suggested on previous pages of this report. They might list 
with proper references many documents whose full texts they deemed 
it inexpedient to print. Thaj should supply brief introductions to 
their volumes, and such headnotes or footnotes to the individual 
documents as might seem requisite for their identification, but no 
^eTaborate explanatory annotations. Their volumes should be sup- 
plied with tables of contents, indexes, and typographical arrange- 
ments ensuring convenience in using the books. The noble series of 
the American State Papers is evidence that seventy-five years ago 
the American Government appreciated abundantl}^ the usefulness of 
historical material to the life of a young nation. The opening years 
of the twentieth centur}^ should see a revival of this solicitude on the 
part of a nation much more mature and vastly more rich, but none 
the less in need of the teachings of history. 

We believe that in view of the intimate * connection between 
archives and historical publications it is not stepping out of our 
province to request the earnest attention of the Committee on 
Department Methods to the serious situation of the Government 
in respect to the storage of its records and papers. Vast quantities 
of material, some of it valuable historically, much of it worth great 
sums of money to the Government, are annually "colonized out" 
by departments into outside buildings, unsuitable and unsafe, and 
in which it is practically impossible to consult them. This evil has 
been often commented on by careful heads of departments. We 
strongly recommend, as the only remedy, that a National Archive 
House be built and that the earlier records and papers of the admin- 
istrative departments be segregated and stored in it, under modern 
and scientific arrangements, as soon as is possible. We further 
recommend that Congress be requested so to modify its laws respect-, 
ing the destruction of departmental papers as to insure that papers 
no longer useful for administrative purposes be not destroyed with- 
out giving some expert person, such as the Chief of the Division of 
Manuscripts in the Library of Congress or the head of the future 
archive establishment, the opportunity to preserve such as still 
possess historical value. 

But since no suitable and adequate system of management for the 
documentary historical publications of the Government can be main- 



40 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

tained without havino; a constant means of invoking tlio aid and 
counsel of those best cjuahlied to judge, we make it our chief^-ecom- 
mendation that, the present temporary committee having done what 
it could to point out needs and suggest general views and plans, Con- 
gress be requested to provided for a permanent advisory Commission 
on National Historical Publications. We ask leave to make certain 
recommendations as to its organization and procedure, based on the 
experience and practice of countries older than ours in liistorical 
work. 

SYSTEM PURSUED BY OTHER GOVERNMENTS. 

In seeking for the ideal mode of governmental procedure in liis- 
torical publication we can derive much instuction from the experi- 
ence of European governments. It can be conceded without shame 
that they have preceded us in tliis pathway, and though nmch ^f 
their historical work Mes in the medieval field, wliich has methods 
peculiar to itself, much of it lies in the field of modern history and 
furnishes close analogies to the tasks lying before us. They do not 
spend more for historical work than we. Some years ago, when a 
systematic attempt was made to obtain figures for the comparison, 
they were spending considerably less. Great Britain was then spend- 
ing about $75,000 per annum for the preparation and printing of 
documentary historical volumes; Russia about 850,000; France about 
S30,000; Germany and Prussia, for preparation alone, not prints, 
about S'23,000, while the United States, then at the height of its 
expendituie for the Oflicial Records of the War, was spending in such 
ways more than $250,00*0. But the uniform impression of historical 
scholars is that the European governments get a better and larger 
product for their mone}'. In part, this result is due to the lower 
rates prevailing in Europe for the compensation of learned workers, 
but in the main the superiority is due to a more scientiiic organization. 

What makes the experience of European governments the more 
instructive is that at the beginning their course was marked by the 
same absence of plan which has marked that of the Ignited States 
Government to the present date. Volumes of historical material 
were i)rinted sim])ly because some official or some ])rivate individual 
succeeded in persuading the legislature of the time to provide for 
/^em. Their genesis and succession were casual, their execution 
good or bad, as the consciences of editors might determine. 

In general terms, it may be saiil that those nations which have 
emerged from this unsatisfactory regime and developed an adequate 
mode of dealing with the jiroblem have tlone so by intrusting the 
planning of historical series and the supervision of their execution 
to permanent special commissions of historical exi)erts, ciualified 
to judge what materials, hitherto unpublished or imperfectjy pub- 
lished, would be most useful to the advancement of historical science. 

The government which first adoj^ted this })lan was that of Great 
Britain, which, l)y various commissions (LSOO-18.37), kept in existence 
for many years a body of oliicials and scholars charged with the execu- 
tion of such enterprises of docunuMUnry |)ublication as they -deemed 
most importiUit. After bringing out a large numl)ei' of folio volumes 
these commissions ceased to exist, and the later Biitish series, the 
l^olls Series, Calendars of State Pa])ers, and other calendars, have 
])een ])roduced under another system. For fifty years these publica- 



HISTOKICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVEENMENT. 41 

tions have been nominally under the charge of the master of the rolls, 
whose ancient title connects him with the records, but who is really 
an equity judge. Practically the whole matter has usually lain in 
the sole control of the deputy keeper of the public records, who has 
doubtless had the advice and aid of the assistant keepers. The sys- 
tem is not one to be recommended, providing, as it does, no regular 
means for bringing to bear upon the problems the opinions of historical 
scholars outside the archive staff. Its present effect is the confine- 
ment of publication to calendars, lists, and indexes, a restriction 
possible in a countr}^ where distances from the original manuscripts 
in the Public Record Office are short, but inapplicable to the case of 
the United States. Better models of organization and procedure are 
to be found on the Continent than in England. It may be mentioned, 
however, that for one particular portion of its publications Great 
Britain has an Historical Manuscri]:)ts Commission of thirteen, several 
of whom are historians; and that the Canadian government in 1907 
instituted a similar but smaller commission, which is to plan and 
supervise the historical publications of the Dominion quite after the 
manner usual on the Continent. 

In 1834 Guizot, then Minister of Public Instruction in France, 
instituted what has since been called the Committee of Historical 
Works, consisting at first of from nine to eleven members, charged 
to direct the preparation and publication, for the Government, of 
volumes of uhpublished materials for the history of France. More 
than 250 volumes have been issued by the committee;, the quality 
of the whole would have been better if more pains and thought had 
been expended at the beginning in framing a comj^rehensive and 
well-reasoned plan. In 1874 an additional commission. Commission 
on Scientific and Literary Missions, was established under the same 
ministry, with the object of searching for data-^historicai, philo- 
logical, etc. — to be found in foreign lands. In our country this 
function is mainly performed by the Department of Historical 
Research in the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Another 
special commission, whose operations more closeh^ resemble what 
would be appropriate to the circumstances of the United States 
Government, the Commission for the Publication of Documents on 
the Economic History of the French Revolution, has been fully 
described by one of its chief members, M. Pierre Caron, in an instruct- 
ive article in the American Historical Review for April, 1908.° It 
was established in 1903 and, on account of temporary circumstances, 
was given a separate existence from the Committee of Historical 
Works. The Commission consisted at first of 28 members, and now 
consists of 45, but its work is mostly done b}^ an executive com- 
mittee of 7, all of whom are noted historical scholars. It has formed 
subsidiary committees in each department of France, and has fur- 
nished them from time to time with instructions which are models 
of the kind. It has shown great activity, and has published rapidly, 
perhaps too rapidly, a large series of octavo volumes, about 10 vol- 
umes^ per annum. 

" TiTthe same year (1834) in which Guizot's original committee was 
appointed, the new Kingdom of Belgium established a Royal Com- 
mission of History, which, with somewhat widened functions, sub- 

""A French cooperative historical enterprise." 



42 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

sists to the present day, and has performed notable services in 
publication. Perhaps, however, the most famous of such commis- 
sions is that which in 1858, at the instance of Ranke, Sybel, and Waitz, 
Kinn: Maximilian II, of Bavaria, established in connection with the 
Bavarian Academy.** To this commission we owe more than a 
hundred volumes of the best-edited historical material that Germany 
has produced. 

Commissions of this form have come more and more into favor 
in the German states, and have increased rapidly in recent years. 
A particularly successful one was established in Baden in 1883. 
Wiirttemberg founded one in 1891, the ]:)rovince of Styria in 1892, 
the Kingdom of Saxony in 1896, tlie Prussian provinces of West- 
phalia, Nassau, Hesse, and Saxony in 1896-1898. With these, 
with the commissions more recently established by the Tlmringian 
states, Alsace and Lorraine, and with the very active Commission 
for the Modern History of Austria, founded in 1901, one may fairl}^ 
say that such commissions have become the accepted mode in the 
country in which the editing of historical documents has received its 
most scholarly development. 

Hungary also has a historical commission of the same nature. 
Russia has both the Commission for Printing Letters Patent and 
Treaties, founded in 1811, and the Archiieographical Commission, of 
broader scope, founded in 1834. Italy has had. since 1883, in the 
Italian Historical Institute, an organization designed both to super- 
vise the collection entitled "Sources for the History of Italy" and to 
act as a clearing house for the provincial historical societies and 
commissions. 

But perhaps the best model of such national commissions is fur- 
nished b}" that which the Queen of the Netherlands instituted^i 
1902, consisting of ten eminent historical scholars and entitled\PQ]n7 
mission of Advice for National Historical Publications. Warned by 
the experience of some commissions previously established in other 
countries, this Dutch commission proceeded, before engaging in any 
scheme of publication or definitely resolving upon them, first to make 
a general survey of the different periods and parts of Dutcli history, 
with an eye to the question, What serious gaps existed in the docu- 
mentation that could be filled by the publication of materials liitherto 
unprinted? They brought out a careful and detailed report entitled 
"Survey of the Gaps in Dutch History to be filled by Documentary 
Publications."'' They decided which of the various projects should 
be taken up first. Continuing in office as a permanent committee of 
advice, they framed singularly judicious regulations for the execu- 
tion of such works — regulations from which much could profitably 
])e borrowed for American use — and they have produced several 
excellent volumes in their projected series. 

In the composition of such commissions as those which have been 
described above as the usual machinery of governmental historical 
work in Europe the European jjovernments have often taken advan- 
tage of the existence of national historical institutions, associations, or 



« Its history i.s related in Die Histori.'iche ('onimis.sion bei der k6nip;lich bayerischen 
Akademie der Wissensohaften (Munich, IS8.3). 

<>Overzicht van de door lirunneniMiblicatie aan te vullen Leemten der Neder- 
hind.sche Geschicdkennis (IIa<;ue, 190}): noe Amerifan Historical Review, Vol. XI, 
p. 4.33. 



HISTOKICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 43 

academies, especially in those countries in which national academies 
have a large share in the general control of intellectual interests. 
Thus the directing committee of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 
the chief series for German medieval history, consists of nine members, 
appointed by the royal academies of Berlin, Vienna, and Munich. 
The Royal Historical Commission of Belgium is chosen on nomina- 
tions by the Belgian Academy from among its own members. Of 
the Munich Historical Commission, three members must by statute 
be members of the Bavarian Academy, and in practice several others 
are. The commissions of the most recent model usually consist of 
an archive official or two, specially competent in history, of historical 
professors in the universities, and of men prominent in the work of 
the chief historical organizations of the respective countries. In the 
United States, which has no national academj- of the historical and 
^"^^p^llological sciences, the obvious analogue for such purposes is the 
American Historical Association, incorporated by act of Congress in 
terms inclusive of precisely such services. 

It is also necessary to bear in mind the peculiarities of our archive 
system. National archives have a natural liistory of their own. 
Their regular course of development is to proceed from a state of 
things wherein each government office keeps its own papers to one 
wherein all papers not recent and not needed in current administrative 
work are concentrated in one great historical repository. Great 
Britain, with its all-engrossing Public Jlecord Office, and Belgium 
and the Netherlands, so far as national, as distinct from old provincial, 
repositories are concerned, stand at one end of the scale of develop- 
ment. The archives of Berlin are less concentrated, those of Paris 
and Vienna, with their comlunation of national archives and archives 
of ministries, represent a still lower stage of the normal progression, 
wliile those of St. Petersburg are almost as much scattered as the 
British were before the Public T^ecord Office was created. Now, 
readers of Van Tyne and Leland's Guide to the Archives of the Govern- 
ment in Washington do not need to be told that the archives of the 
United States stand at the foot of the scale in respect to concentra- 
tion. There is indeed only one instance (that of the Department of 
War) in which archives embracing the papers of a whole department 
have been concentrated into one archive. Each bureau, sometimes 
each subdivision of a bureau, preserves its own records; there are 
more than a hundred such repositories. While it is certain that the 
mere exigencies of space in departmental buildings will before many 
years lead to the creation of a central depository of some sort, it is 
essential at present, in devising plans for proper supervision of the 
Government's liistorical output, to have regard to the fact of separate 
departmental control over most portions of the manuscript material. 
It is also needful to bear in mind the utility, when so many of the 
]:»roposed publications lie within the domain of a single executive 
department, of invoking in all such cases the expert aid of the depart- 
ment's own officials. 

\ SUGGESTIONS FOR A PERMANENT COMMISSION ON NATIONAL 
I HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS. 

' Composition. — We recommend that Congress be requested to ])ass 
legislation in accordance with which the President shall appoint from 
anions: the members of the American Historical Association eight or 



44 HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

nine |)orsons of the highest standing for scholarship and judgment in 
tlie Jiehl of United States histor}', to serve as a Commission on Na- 
tional Historical Publications; and we suggest that the executive 
council of the American Historical Association be requested, when va- 
cancies occur, to propose nominations for the action of the President. 

We recommend that Congress be requested to make annual appro- 
priations for the vvork of compilation and printing sufficient to ensure 
)h^ issue of at least 10 octavo volumes per annum of the ])ublications 
which such Commission may recommend, or, upon an estimate, 
$100,000 per annum for compilation and prmting. 

Meetings.— het it be provided that the Commission hold two stated 
meetings each year in Washington, and other meetmgs when called- 
by the chairman with the approval of three other members; 

That the members of the Commission receive such comjiensation 
as Congress may think fit, and that a suitable appropriation be 
annually made to defray the expenses incurred in attending their 
meetings and the clerical expenses necessarily involved in their work; 

Tliat the Commission arrange its members into committees of 
three upon materials possessed respectiv3ly by the executive depart- 
ments and the Library of Congress; and that in each dej^artment 
and the Library of Congress a committee of three be appointed by 
the head of the department or the Librarian of Congress to act, 
under the conditions set forth herein, with the respective committees 
of three formed by the proposed Commission. 

Operations. — Proposals for volumes or series of documentary his- 
torical materials to be published by the Government should come 
before the Commission in one of two ways — (a) on the initiative of 
the Commission, or (6) on the initiative of one of the departments. 
Let it be |)rovided that the following procedure obtain in these two 
K'^ses respective*! 3': 

/ (fl) In the former case no proposal sliall be considered at any meet- 
ing unless a full explanation by its ])roposer, stating reasons, giving 
a j)lan, estimating the magnitude of the jn'oposed undertaking, and 
suggesting an editor, shall have been transmitted to the chairman 
or secretary of the Commission two months l)efore the meeting and 
prom])tly distributed in dui)licate to all the members. 

If approved by a majority of the Commission, the i)roposal, if it 
relates to materials possessed by one dei)artmeht or the Library of 
Congress, shall be referred to the committee on that department, 
which shall call into consultation the committee of three ap])ointed 
as above in that dej^artment, or the Library of Congress. If, how- 
evei', the pro|)osed volume or series would be composed of materials 
possessed by several departments, the Commission may proceed to 
its ])rei)aiation after such consultations with those departments as 
may seem aj)propriate. 

(b) If from the committee of three formeil as above in any depart- 
ment pro]iosals for such volumes or series of documentar}' liistorical 
materials sliall be made to the chairman of the Commission, he 
shall request details of a sort mentioned above, sliall send them in 
duplicate to the members of the committee on that department, and 
after one month shall call for their opinion, in writing, if there be 
question of one volume, or if a series of volumes is })roposcd shall 
refer tli(> matter to a meeting of the whole Commission. 



HISTORICAL PUBLICATIOXS OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT. 45 

No new publication of documentary liistorical materials shall be 
hereafter undertaken by any department or the Library of Congress 
unless the proposal has received the approval of a majority of the 
editorial committee of that department or of tlie Library of C'ongress 
and of a majority of the appropriate committee of the Commission. 

The Commission shall make general regulations as to the form of 
publication and the details of editing and execution, which rules shall 
be laid before the President for his approval before going into effect, 
and shall report annually to the President, in October. 

By some such plan as this we believe the Government can secure 
a steady output of creditable liistorical work, based on competent 
"^d farseeing deliberation, and answering the needs of the present 
and the future; and we do not beHeve that such a product can be 
obtained without supervision of substantially the character and extent 
that we have indicated. 

In case it be deemed expedient to appeal to Congress for legislation 
enabling procedure like that described above to be carried out, we 
submit herewith a/lraft of a bill wliich embodies our views of what is 
essential in the constitution of such a permanent commission: 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the President be authorized to appoint, with the advice 
and consent of the iSenate, from among the members of the American Historical Asso- 
ciation, nine persons of the highest standing for scholarship and judgment in the field 
of United States history, to serve as a Commission on National Historical Publicatrons, 
and to have authority to defray, out of such appropriations as may be made to said 
Commission, the cost of preparing and printing such volumes of material for American 
history as it may deem most useful. 

Respectfully submitted. 

WoRTHiNGTON C. FoRD, Chairman, 

Charles Francis Adams, 

Charles M. Andrews, 

William A. Dunning, 

Albert Bushnell Hart, 

Andrew C. JMcLxVUGhlin, 

Alfred T. Mahan, 

Frederick J. Turner, 

J. Franklin Jameson, Secretary, 
Assistant Committee on the Documentary Historical 

Publications of the United States Government. 
The Committee on Department Methods. 

o 



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